Valentines Day: A Blackwater Story
by Charlotte -LOVE
Summary: Was oneshot, now full story. Jake and Renesmee are a sickening couple, but Leah can't understand why she objects to them so much. JacobxRenesmee JacobxLeah. Please R&R!
1. Valentine's Day

**Happy (late) Valentines Day!**

**It's my very first Blackwater story (even though it's a oneshot) so I hope you enjoy.**

**Thank you to Some Things Don't Have to end for beta-ing. **

**~Charlotte-LOVE-  


* * *

**

_I told you we would manage it_, I said as he ran.

Jacob snorted and pushed into me playfully. _And I never doubted you; you just thought that I did_.

_Liar! Watch this._ Our shoulders still brushed together, so I played him my memory of us standing next to each other. It was summer and the bright sun was warming our bodies as we lay together in the grass. Internally, I blushed as all of my feelings of love and adoration poured through the memory.

_"This is perfect," he murmured. I snuggled up closer to him and he wrapped both of his arms around me._

"_I know. I never want summer to end."_

"_What about Christmas? It's in winter, and we get presents. What's there not to like? And it's Valentines Day in February."_

"_We should come back here. On Valentines Day, I mean."_

_It looked like he was about to agree and then he stopped. "We might be too far away…" He trailed off._

I tried to stop the memory before he could see how much his comment hurt me. Of course, with my luck, he still felt the rawness of rejection.

_I meant the fact that we might move – not that we still wouldn't be together. Why wouldn't we be?_ Jake shook his head at my stupidity.

I tried not thinking about her, honestly. Yet my thoughts gave me away. _Nessie._

Jacob faltered and then stopped. I skidded to a halt beside him, but I couldn't look at him. It had been years since her accident – but our long memories didn't stop us from remembering it.

_Leah, Renesmee's gone. It hurts, but it's true. I'm not going to stop living my life because of that – I'm not going to give up chances to be happy because of her. I did that for ten years, and I'm tired of it. I know that she wouldn't have wanted me to._ He pushed his muzzle into my shoulder blades in a weird wolf-hug and then started jogging again. _You're what gets me up in the morning now, Leah. I'm not going to lose you, or reject you._

_Don't go all romantic on me Jacob, it really doesn't suit you._

My diversion tactic worked and Jake barked out a laugh. We both sped back into a sprint, me careful to stay ahead of him at all times.

_I really thought that you would get over the need to be fast eventually, Leah_. _I was apparently too optimistic._

_Jealous of my amazing speed, mighty Alpha? You're just annoyed that I can get everywhere quicker than you._ Without _running into trees._

Naturally, Jake and I sped up to prove ourselves the stronger wolf. We threw childish names and insults at each other as we shot through the trees, avoiding the fallen trunks and low-hanging branches. The smell of the air began to change subtly as we raced towards our destination. The fragrance of the forest – the plants, the animals – morphed into stagnant water and waterlife. The sounds of the air whooshing through leaves and branches started to sound more like the wind forming waves on a pond. I dug my claws into the subsoil and shot forward, desperate to arrive at the place that only contained happy memories. Jacob sped up next to me, and we arrived at the edge of a large lake.

_I won!_ I crowed, replaying my glorious finish to him.

He pointedly ignored me, and stalked back into the woods to change. I chuckled at his modesty – we had been together for nine months, and he still felt uncomfortable being naked around me. His presence left my head as he phased. I closed my eyes and centred myself, pulling all of the strands of my human self back towards me.

A traceless shimmer later, and I was standing on the waters edge with no clothes on. I bent over to untie the sturdy anklet I was wearing, freeing the clothes I had brought. After shimmying into my underwear, I picked up the dress.

It was a Christmas present from the leeches. I still wasn't friendly with them, but when they gave me the most gorgeous dress I had ever seen – how could I say no? The fabric was slippery in my hands, waves of red slipping through as I twisted it, trying to find the arm and head holes. I hadn't worn it before, because my social life was non-existent, and I hoped that it wouldn't make me look repulsive.

I scrambled into it less-than-gracefully. The silky folds ran in rivers down my sides. It squeezed my waist and then cascaded outwards at my hips, ending at my knees. I walked over to the river bank and tried to look at my reflection.

The ripples from the wind only gave me a distorted image of myself, but it was enough to tell me that I didn't look like an ogre. I smoothed my messed hair around my face, trying to untangle the knots with my fingers.

Another pair of hands joined my own, quickly teasing the knots out, brushing through the strands with warm, gentle fingers. These hands travelled down to my shoulders, then slid down the smooth fabric of the dress to my waist. Soft lips pressed between my shoulder blades and I shivered as feeling shot through me.

The hands tightened on my hips and spun me around, the skirt of the dress flaring out around my calves. I slid my arms around the back of his neck, and Jacob leaned down to press his lips to mine. I opened my mouth, allowing him to assault all of my senses. His face, his smell, his touch, his _taste_…

I unlatched my arms and took a step back as we sat down on the lake's bank together. He kept one arm around me, and the other he used as a support to keep him upright. I leant against his shoulder, my head resting just underneath his chin.

The sun was about to set, but before the darkness of night came, the sky was lit up with brilliant oranges, reds and pinks. The clouds were cool lavenders, running into the light green forest behind us.

"I said we would come back here on Valentines Day."

Jacob smiled and kissed my cheek. "You were right."


	2. Argument

_T'was going to be a oneshot, and is now being expanded into a full story. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Ten Years Earlier**

Chapter One: Argument

"Jacob!" Renesmee screamed. Next to me, I saw Jacob's mouth pull into a goofy grin as he trotted off obediently to Renesmee side. I snarled in annoyance and trotted back into the woods. Lately, I had been doing all I could to avoid being in wolf form with Jake, just to make sure he couldn't see my angry thoughts. Now, the only time we talked was when we're both humans, and that's a rare thing.

"Hey there Renesmee," I heard Jake croon, even though Renesmee was now a fully fledged half-vampire. I started running to get away from hearing their gooey I-wuv-yooooou conversations. It made me want to hurl.

_Jealous much, Leah?_ Embry asked, snorting at my annoyance.

Of course, avoiding Jake usually meant hanging out with his imbecile pals. Embry and Quil were two additions I would rather not have to my pack.

Shut up, bird brain, I couldn't care less about Jacob. Renesmee, on the other hand, needs to be less of a spoilt brat.

_I still say jealous._

_Urgh! _I growled, my pent up annoyance flowing freely. _You find her just as annoying at me, Embry, and don't bother lying, I can see it in your thoughts. That spoilt girl is the worst creation in history._

_That's a bit harsh, Leah,_ Quil said.

It _was_ harsh, but it was also true. Renesmee had been perfectly fine when she was still little and liked being called 'Nessie'. But time had revealed the truth. Edward, Bella, Rosalie and the rest of the vampires spoiled her since birth. Anything she wanted had been given and she had never been told off for anything. All that left was a spoilt brat who hadn't learnt to be civilised. And now that little Nessie was a teenager who refused to be known by such childish nicknames, Renesmee was someone that only a mother could love. Well, a mother, a coven of vampires and a mentally deranged wolf.

I turned back to Embry and Quil, who had heard all of this. Agreement lined their thoughts, even though neither of them spoke.

And you two are both going to hide this conversation from Jacob like you hide everything else.

The both ducked their heads and went back to whatever trivial thing they had been doing before. Because of that distraction – I hadn't got nearly far enough away from the happy couple. All of the packs ears perked up as we heard Renesmee and Jake talking.

"Jake – I want to go hunting. Now."

"Okay, baby, just let me phase."

And that's my cue to leave – bye boys. Have fun with the moron.

I phased as fast as possible, determined not to share any thoughts with Jacob. Quil and Embry were both experts at hiding their thoughts now, and Seth was too nice to hate anyone, so he didn't need to pretend to like Jake's imprint. Me, on the other hand, didn't have the patience to hide my thoughts, so I just tried to not to let my wolf side show.

I pulled myself into a standing position, just as my wolf mind caught a new presence in the Pack's mind.

Ah… The peace of human senses. Although being a wolf had its advantages, being a human certainly trumped it. I couldn't hear Nessie and Jacob frolicking together in the woods, and I certainly was going to run into them. Unbothered by my nakedness, I sat on the cool earth, leaning up against a tree. My eyes fluttered closed and I sighed contentedly. No distractions when you were human…Until something catches you off guard and poof! You turn into a wolf.

The cheap string scratched against my ankle, causing momentary discomfort before the wound healed again. Reaching down, I untied the string and let my ragged shorts and crop top fall into a pile. I balled the string up in my palm and then chucked it as far away as I could. Idly, I kicked the pile of clothes by my feet, not finding the will or energy to put them on.

A flash of movement in the trees caught my human eye and my head whipped around to see a wolf emerging from the woods. I didn't spend any time looking at it, I just shot behind a tree. I guessed it was Seth, seeing that Jake was with Nessie and Embry and Quil don't bother with me in my human form.

"Jeez, Seth! I'm not wearing anything! Gimme a little privacy will ya?"

I didn't hear the wolf phasing – but then again, you never would. I tried to subtly reach round the side of the tree to get my clothes, but my arm couldn't reach without revealing any other part of my body to them.

"It's not Seth," a deep voice said, shocking me.

For some bizarre reason, I felt my face blush like a tomato. Great, I was now the reincarnation of human Isabella.

"Jake, I thought you were with Ness-Renesmee," I corrected myself hurriedly.

"Nah, she decided that she wanted to go back home instead. Said her nails were going to get messed up and she'd just had them manicured." Love and adoration seeped through every word.

"Great. Do you mind going away so that I can put my clothes on."

He paused, and then said quietly, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Can't you at least close your eyes then?"

"Fine, they're closed. And I've turned around."

I peeked round the tree to check that he was doing what he promised. Sure enough, I could see his muscled back and torn shorts. I darted from my hiding spot, grabbed my clothes, and ran back. I scrambled into the shorts and top, which were dirty from my run in the woods, and then stepped back out of the shelter.

"You can turn around now."

He grinned when he saw my grimace of distaste.

"Hey Leah."

"Hi, what did you want?"

Jake held up his hands. "I want just checking up, making sure that you're alright. We haven't talked in so long. Alpha's duty to take care of his pack."

Alpha's duty, just because it's what is expected of him. Not because he actually cares. The Jake I knew before Renesmee would have wanted to make sure that I was okay because he cared.

"I'm fine." Renesmee had put me in a bad mood. As always.

Jacob sighed and leant against a tree. "I thought that we managed to get over out initial dislike for each other."

"What do you mean? I still like you."

"So why are you glaring at me?"

"I'm just in a bad mood."

Jacob rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Of course, one of Leah's mood swings. I'll leave you alone to deal with your problems."

"Don't be stupid, Jacob. I'm just not in a good mood."

"Sorry, I'll come back when it's more convenient for you."

I snorted. "Yeah, like you have anything better to be doing. You don't work, and you don't go to school. You just spend all day playing with the leeches. I can see how hard it must be to find the time to see the pack."

"Sorry that I thought my pack might be able to cope without constant nannying from the Alpha."

"Well why don't you take your Alpha-butt back to Nessie." Calling her Nessie annoyed Jake almost as much as it did her.

"Don't call her that!"

"I'll call her whatever I want. Aren't you going to go and give her a pedicure?"

"What? No. What's up with you today Leah?"

"Nothing," I said. "Just pointing out the fact that whatever Nessie wants, happens. You do know that children who grow up in that sort of lifestyle generally turn into spoilt brats? Although I suppose my warning is a little too late for Nessie."

I got a lot of satisfaction from the amount that Jake's hands were shaking. He didn't say anything for a while, as he got her temper under control. It's strange. Me, with the worst temper out of everyone, was keeping my cool pretty well.

"You can be pretty mean sometimes, Leah," Jacob said softly before striding away, knocking an offensive tree out of his way.

_That went well._


	3. Phone Call

Chapter Two: Phone Call

"Hey Mom," I said morosely, kicking the door shut behind me.

"Leah!" Mom's face popped into the hallway from the kitchen. "I'm just making dinner."

"Is Charlie in?" I listened, but I couldn't hear the strains of the TV coming from the sitting room – the sound that generally indicated Mr Swan being around.

Mom shook her head. "Nope, he's gone out fishing with Seth. Said that he wanted to bond with you two. Seth was perfectly up for it – but I convinced him to leave you well alone."

I smiled. "Thanks Mom." Charlie was a good guy. He made Mom smile and generally happier, but that didn't mean I wanted to spend time with him. Seth, on the other hand, loved out father-in-law, and spent most of his human times around here with Mom and him. Inside the kitchen, Mom had about thirty different pans on the stove and inside the oven.

"Jesus, how many are you expecting tonight?"

She looked sheepish. "Just Charlie and Seth. But Charlie gets hungry after fishing and Seth is just generally hungry. I thought that the exercise would make him starving, so I made extra."

"Fishing isn't a very energetic sport," I pointed out. "I'll finish off any extras that you have."

A smile cracked across her face. "Thank you dear." Mom turned to twiddle a few knobs and then sat down in the mismatched chairs. "So, what's up."

"What?"

"Leah, I could tell you were in a bad mood since you walked through that door. What happened? Did you have to talk to Nessie or something."

My Mom knew me so well. "No, thankfully. Although it's to do with Nessie."

"Jacob?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"I don't know what that boy is thinking. Making out with a two year old while you're right in front of him. He's not worth the effort, sweetie."

I rolled my eyes. Mom had an obsession with me and any guy I knew going out. Quil, Embry, Jake, as soon as I mentioned their names Mom would pounce on me with questions.

"Mom, seriously."

"I am being serious. I joke about Quil and Embry, but you and Jacob Black are almost made for each other. It's a pity that Nessie got in the way of all that. You know that me and Billy planned out your wedding when you were seven."

"MOM!"

She waved her hand. "We were bored – it was nothing serious, don't worry."

"Me and Jake never got on."

"You did we you were babies. You two were completely inseparable! Because you used to be friend with the twins, and one day – about a month after Jacob was born – I brought you round to go and play with Rachel and Rebecca. They were out so you spent about five hours playing with this teeny-tiny Jacob. Billy still has the photos somewhere. And since then, up until you were about nine, you were always demanding to go and play with Jake."

"Whatever Mom, can you get over the reminiscing stage. I do not love Jacob. I just wish that he would ditch the bloodsucker."

"Nessie really shouldn't have been born. You were so much happier when he hadn't imprinted."

I widened my eyes and looked at her as if she had mortally offended me. "Mom! How could you? Her name is Renesmee. Nessie is far to childish for an adult like her."

We both burst out laughing at my pathetic imitation of Renesmee's annoyance when anyone spoke her baby nickname. It was a double bonus for me, because I had managed to distract Mom from her topic of how Jacob and I would be a perfect couple. Puh-lease. Jake was a good friend before he imprinted, and that was the only reason I wanted him back. Besides, he imprinted on Renesmee, so his sense in women is obviously below par.

Still chortling, Mom turned back to the food. "Oh Leah, you make me laugh."

The scent of burning meat hit my nose and I wrinkled it. "Mom, something's burning."

Mom looked fondly at the oven. "No it's not dear, Charlie just likes his meat well-done."

The burnt smell increased. "Urgh… Is it all going to be cooked that much? I mean, there's well-done and then there is dead."

"Yes, it's all like that. Seth doesn't mind."

No way am I eating something that tastes like charcoal, Mom was just going to have to put it in the fridge for leftovers.

"Sorry, but I'm out. You know that I can only eat food that's been cooked."

Mom look confused and pointed at the oven. "This is cooked. It's why it's in the oven."

"No, Mom, that is being incinerated. I will see you tomorrow."

I got up from my chair and kissed her forehead before heading to the door.

"Good luck with the demon spawn!" she called out in a pleasant voice and I chuckled as my feet crunched in the gravel.

I wanted to go home, but I couldn't phase unless I knew that Jacob was human. However, on the other hand, it was a very long way to walk. I could just pop in and pop out again. I trotted off into the woods at the side of Charlie's house and found a nice, secluded patch. I took off my clothes and set them down on a sort-of-dry log, out of the way for the rain drops that were leaking through the canopy.

Okay, Three… Two… One… And phase! As soon as I felt the change, I turned all of my thoughts to Charlie and Mom. Think about them, the house, small bits of the conversation we just had, the pot noodle I'm going to eat when I got home.

Food. That was a good thing to think about. I tried to remember the various different microwave noodles I had got stored back at home. Maybe the Chinese one – that's my favourite. But I only have a few left so I should probably save them.

Quick check to see who's a wolf. Oh good. No Jacob. No Jacob but…

Seth? What are you doing here? I thought that you were fishing with Charlie. At least that's what Mom told me.

He's going home – I said I needed to pick something up at home so that I could check in with you guys before I went to have dinner.

Be careful of the meat. I replayed my memory of Mom's cooking while picking my clothes up gently with my teeth. Uurgh, clothes in mouth were not good.

Two more minds joined mine as Seth's as I started jogging back home. Quil and Embry were both shaking their heads in disbelief. As soon as they noticed my presence they both started on me at the same time.

Leah! Embry shouted.

What the hell is, Quil began.

Wrong with you, girl? Embry ended.

Jacob, he looked like he was ready to kill someone.

And you should have seen Edward.

Renesmee isn't exactly in a good mood.

Seth tried to make out their furious mental images, but he gave up after realising how jumbled and tangled they were. I already knew the back-story to what they were saying, but I wasn't completely sure what they were talking about.

Seth whined and pawed the ground, trying to get attention. What are you guys talking about?

They both tried to explain at once, but then Quil shut up and let Embry show what had happened.

I watched as Jacob phased after our talk, his body still shaking with rage even though he was already a wolf. Embry and Quil were mucking around together, but they stopped when they gauged the feelings that Jake was exuding. They had both demanded to know what had happened and Jacob – too angry to speak – showed them mine and his conversation. I couldn't help but let my satisfaction leak into everyone's minds as Embry showed the part where I told Jake that Renesmee was not a nice person. Then he showed how Jacob had run off to go to Renesmee, hoping she would calm him down some, but his plan was foiled when Edward was playing with Renesmee and saw everything I had said. He was almost as mad and Jacob.

And then Jake phased, Quil finished off. We phased a little while later to check that he hadn't ripped your human head off, and then had to sit through all of the vampires whining about your attitude, Leah.

Ha! I choked out a bark-laugh. Embry and Quil might not hate the bloodsuckers like I did, but they certainly didn't like spending a lot of time around them.

You could be a little more sympathetic with us, Leah, seeing as it is all your fault. Embry reminded me, growling slightly.

I snorted. Yeah right. I'm not getting in trouble for this. This is Jacob's punishment for imprinting on Nessie.

Renesmee, Embry and Quil thought at the same time.

Nessie suits her more. Loch Ness Monster and all…

Seth shook his head in my direction. He hated it when we gossiped or talked about Renesmee because he quite liked her.

Guys, I'm going to go and have supper with Mom and Charlie. Leah, behave yourself, he warned before he jumped out of out minds.

Jeez, that boy does not have one nasty bone in his body, I said. Sometimes I couldn't understand how Seth managed to be so nice to everyone. I couldn't keep a pleasant face on for more than ten minutes, let alone my whole life.

Because of my talking, I hadn't gotten nearly as far as I thought I had. This wasn't a problem, until I felt Jacob phase. Not caring that I was in the middle of the forest, and that I could hear cars on the road just a few trees away, I dropped the clothes in my mouth and began pulling myself together.

Leah, Jake growled. Don't phase. We need to talk.

I was grateful that Jacob never used the Alpha commands on his pack. If he had, then I would have been screwed. But, luck was on my side, and I managed to phase with only a teeny bit of guilt that twinged – and who cared about a small bit of guilt? From listening to Sam's mind when he saw Emily, I knew that a person could live without a lot more and still function normally.

I stood up on my two legs and pulled on my clothes. As soon as I was decent, I walked over to the road and started to jog home.

I realised as I flicked on the lights that I hadn't been back in ages. Jake, Embry and Quil all went back to their families at night, and Sam's pack had agreed to take on all the scouting at night if we did it by day. Mainly, it was just to make sure that Embry's Mom didn't kill him for sneaking out every night. And normally I was too tired to wander back home, so I spent the night as a wolf in the forests.

Before crashing though, I grabbed myself some microwave noodles and chucked them in, setting the timer for whatever. If the microwave exploded while I was in the shower, I would know why.

The warm water washed away the grime of several days; my brief scrub in a stream didn't seem to have done as much for my personal hygiene as I thought it had. I really didn't understand why the guys didn't run away when I came near, I must stink to the delicate noses of wolves. I smiled as I shampooed my hair, thinking about what I would do if everyone suddenly started avoiding me. I would probably punch them. And then take a shower, of course. Before I could start cleaning my hair with conditioner, I heard the house phone ring.

"Damn!" Quickly, I shut the water off and clambered of out the bath-shower and wrapped a towel around my body. I threw the door open and stomped into the living room to get the phone, muttering about people who interrupted my showers.

I yanked the phone out of its cradle – knocking the holder off the mantelpiece and onto the floor.

"Crap!" I swore and bent over to pick it up, pressing the phone to my ear.

The deep voice on the other end made me freeze, bent over at the waist in the middle of my sitting room, wrapped in a towel with my damp hair slowly drying into annoying waves around my face.

"Leah? Is that you?"

"Oh... Um... Hey Jake. Why are you calling?"

"Because you phased before I could talk to you, and you would punch me if I arrived at your door."

Well, I couldn't dispute that. I set the phone's cradle back onto the shelf and sighed. "What do you want?"

"To talk. Meet me behind the Cullen's house tomorrow, as soon as you wake up?" He meant the statement to be confident, but I could hear the doubt in his voice turning to the sentence into a question.

He hung before I could tell him there wasn't a hope in hell we were meeting. I put the phone down and wandered into the kitchen, not caring about my half-showered state. I knotted the towel into a dress-like shape that stayed up and went to get my noodles. They were burning hot and tasteless, just the way I liked them.

I wondered why Jake hadn't come over. Usually, he wasn't afraid of saying or doing things that made me want to punch him, and it wasn't as if he was afraid of face to face confrontations – we had had enough over the course of our lives. Renesmee most likely told him to stay with her. I threw the empty noodle pot into the bin and walked into my room, turning the lights off as I went.

Compared to the forest floor, my bed was heaven. I untied the towel and wriggled it down to the bottom of mattress before clambering underneath my cuddly duvet. Within milliseconds, I was asleep.

* * *

_Thanks for all of your reviews, guys. I was amazed at the amount of people who commented and fav'ed this story. So I tried to get this one up extra quick for you all. ;)_


	4. Communication Failure

Chapter Three: Communication Failure

I stood aimlessly in the middle of the kitchen, looking around at the walls in confusion. Okay. What did I come in here to do?

Nothing sprang to mind.

What haven't I done yet? Well, I'm dressed, fully showered, I have my anklet on, hair and make-up are done. Shoes… Are not in the kitchen, yet I know that there was a very good reason I came in here a few minutes ago. What did I want? I scanned the closed cupboard doors, until I saw the fridge. Food. Did I really forget that I wanted to eat?

I wandered up to one of the cupboards, shaking my head at my stupidity (why else would you come into the kitchen in the morning?) and reached to open the door to grab some cereal. A bleak sight met my eyes. Bran flakes. Not a hope in hell. I slammed that door and looked in a few more. Nothing, nothing and more nothing greeted me. In desperation, I headed to the fridge to grab another pot of noodles, but I was distracted by some bright yellow post-it notes on the door.

_Mom, we're out of:__  
Cereal  
__Milk  
Fruit  
Juice  
Waffles  
Bread  
Butter__  
All other eatable items  
Next time you go shopping, please buy some _normal _food, not just those radioactive noodles that Leah likes.  
-Seth_

_My darling son,  
If you want a certain type of food, go do the shopping yourself. Or come over to Charlie's – he's never out of food._

_Mom, PLEASE can we just have some long-lasting items here for when I stop by? There are now no crisps either, and I'm about to eat the kitchen cupboards._

_Seth,__  
If you eat the cupboards, you're paying for them. Once again, if you want food, come to Charlie's house. You know where it is because you have been before. And you complimented me on my cooking and how well-stocked the fridge was, do you remember?  
Leah, I have bought some more noodles for you._

_Mom,__  
STOP WITH THE NOODLES.  
Seth._

_Seth,  
COME OVER TO CHARLIE'S.  
Mom._

_Okay, Mom, will do._

I laughed at their little conversation and made a mental memo to thank Mom when I next saw her. Underneath all their yellow post-its was a red one, covered in capitals. When I looked closer, I recognised my handwriting.

_TO MYSELF:  
__STOP eating noodles in the MORNING. They do NOT go down well. Eat SOMETHING else or BUY something else. Do NOT eat the noodles.  
__From Leah._

Damn. I had forgotten the last time I had tried to eat noodles in the morning. Well, there go my plans to eat breakfast today. I picked up one of the pens lying uselessly on the counter top and scrawled a thank you note to myself on the bottom of the post-it.

I could wander down and buy something from the shop. But then again, Jacob did say as soon as I woke up and he would not be impressed if I went to buy myself a snack first. Although I was pretty hungry.

My growling stomach made up my mind. Jacob was already going to throw a fit about what I said, and being a teeny bit late wouldn't matter. And how was he going to know that I stopped off for breakfast on the way? He probably wouldn't notice if I walked all the way from La Push to Forks, stopping to do a bit of bird watching too. There was no hope in hell of my phasing and having to talk to him any earlier.

The shop bell tinkled as I entered, and the woman behind the counter looked up. I kept forgetting that they had hired new staff. She looked back down at the magazine she was reading as soon as she recognised me – my reputation had obviously spread. My lip twitched. The girl all but ignored me as I picked up a bottle of apple juice, a breakfast bar, a packet or crisps and a huge slab of chocolate. I probably could have walked out with them and she wouldn't have noticed. But I considered stealing below myself, so I paid for all my food before leaving.

Thankfully, the day I chose to walk everywhere, it wasn't raining. The sky was cloudy, but there were the thin clouds that could get blown away in a second by the wind. And it was warmish for Washington, not that temperature mattered anything to me. But it made my hike down the road and into the forest quite pleasurable. I sighed when the dense greenery started to cover the sky.

As soon as I could – I was leaving La Push and Washington. I would move somewhere hotter, like California. I would live on the coast, and go swimming in warm water every day. I could wake up in the morning and go outside – lie in the back garden in the morning and…I don't know… Read a book. Do something normal that all this werewolf-stuff keeps me from doing.

Maybe I would go live in the south. Oklahoma had always appeal to me, for reasons unknown. Maybe Texas. A big city, though, not another small town. Somewhere where nobody knew each other and gossip didn't spread in a matter of minutes. A city with plenty of boys to take my mind off Sam and finally get me back on the dating track. Or I could skip the country all together. I could go live in Africa, in one of the countries on the equator.

A raindrop landed right between my eyes, and I looked up. Sure enough, through the gaps in the leaves, I could see that the wispy grey clouds that I thought would blow away had turned into a solid wall of grey. The air was still warm, though it was full of tension, like the weather before a storm. Oh great. I hated thunder and lightening.

A black flash next to me made my whole body twist and veer off pitch-black wolf I thought I saw was jogging next to me.

I huffed and resisted giving Sam the finger. "You know we've crossed the treaty line."

Sam just shook his great big black head in an uncaring gesture.

"I know, stupid Jacob making the treaty void. Stupid Jacob for imprinting on Renesmee. You're lucky you don't share a mind with him any more, Sam, if I see one more memory involving darling Renesmee I may shoot someone. Preferably her."

He just repeated my huff from earlier and slowed down a little. He cocked his head, questioning whether I was going to slow down too. Probably so he could catch up on our Pack's gossip. I wasn't condemning him or anything, it was always me who relayed to him what was going on.

"Not today, pal, I'm late for my telling off. Our mighty Alpha dislikes the fact I don't like his girlfriend." Sam sighed and I sighed with him. "Tell Jared and Paul and everyone that I say hi."

He nodded his head and then did a one-eighty, heading back to his back and the useless borderline.

By the time I reached the bloodsuckers house, I was drenched. The rain had started heavily almost as soon as Sam left and had continued – occasionally getting a little heavier. Thank god I was wearing waterproof mascara.

Jake was standing in his human form, lines of displeasure written all over his face. As soon as I was in his eyesight, those lines deepened until they looked like they would never smooth out. He crossed his arms across his naked chest and glared. I wasn't impressed – my glare was ten times more ferocious and terrifying.

"Leah. You're late."

"Pff," I snorted as I leaned against a tree, trying to look nonchalant. "How do you know what time I woke up?"

His silence told me that I wasn't fooling anybody.

"Oh-_kay_, so I went and bought breakfast from the shop. Sorry! I thought food was more important than you. I didn't realise this meeting was of such importance."

He ignored my catty remarks. "_Why_ did you say that about Renesmee? I haven't been able to talk to her since she found out, because she thinks that I _agree _with you."

I placed a hand on my forehead and mimed fainting. "Oh no! Poor Jakie! Being ignored by Renesmee." I went back to my casual stance. "Seriously, Jacob, enjoy the time you have. She'll start talking soon enough. And that's enough to make you want to kill yourself."

"LEAH! I'm fed up of you always sniping and bitching about Renesmee! We're not at school-"

"Of course we're not at school! At _school_ wouldn't have to cope with your whining voice_ and _your whining thoughts. But, sadly, I'm stuck with them both. Consider the annoyance you're feeling is payback for what you've made me feel."

"Just the annoyance that _you_ feel, Leah! But because you take it out on me – everyone feels it! You're taking this out on _everyone_. Just like you did with Sam."

That was a low blow. Even in the middle of an argument like this – it was cruel of Jake to say that. "I'm not! You know that Seth is the only wolf that likes your girlfriend? Embry and Quil may not say it to your face, but they hate her as well. She's a spoilt brat, why would they like her? The other pack all hate her just because I've told them some of the stories involving Renesmee. Don't you get it? Renesmee is horrid."

"Stop taking this out on her!"

"This is about her, Jacob! We were _fine_ until you imprinted. Everyone was happy. And then you spoiled it – the peace, the happiness. Sure, we all had our own problems, but we were coping. For god_sake_, can't you see that this is all her fault?"

"All I can see it you being completely unreasonable Leah! We all tried to help you with Sam, we all did. You were a bully to us, but we still tried to be nice. And this is how you repay us?"

"Oh, you tried to be _nice_?" I wished I was in wolf form so that I could show him what the pack had done to me while trying to be 'nice'. "And stop bringing this back to Sam. That's over. Dead. Buried. I had Sam, you had Bella. I haven't done anything that you can use against me, Jacob."

"I don't know why you even bother to phase anymore, Leah. Seeing as it's such a drag for you."

"Haven't you noticed I only phase when you're not around? Maybe I change so that I can talk to my friends – but probably not seeing as I don't really have any. Maybe I change for the thrill of being a wolf – but, again, probably not because I prefer being human. Hmmm… Why _do_ I change, Jacob? I really can't remember. Oh, yeah. It's because I. Don't. Have. A. Choice."

"Don't take it out me! I know that you hate changing, so I try to be nice to you when you are a wolf. But it gets really hard when all you do is complain about Renesmee. Sorry you don't like her – but why can't you just put up with her like the rest of the guys do? Why do you have to be so obnoxious?"

"Because I've put up with her for _years_. I've reached breaking point, Jacob! I can't take anymore of her, and I can't take any more of you."

"Funny thing, because I can't take anymore of _you_ either. Just get out my sight."

I felt like laughing at how badly this had gone. "So what? You called me here to shout at me? Tell me what was wrong with me and then send me away? Real nice, Jake."

I turned on my heel, my face burning with anger. My eyes were damp with furious tears and my teeth were gritted against the urge to phase. My whole body was shaking, but I tried to keep the tremors under control.

"Leah! No, wait." He grabbed my wrist and tugged me around to face him. "I just wanted to know what was bugging you so much. Sorry that I lost it."

Usually, that would have managed to cheer me up a little. Not many people said sorry after they shouted at me. But not today. I was past angry.

Laughing bitterly, I jerked out of his touch. "You know what, Jake? I might just do what you ordered earlier and _get out of your sight_. Probably forever. Maybe earlier if you get rid of your demon spawn."

I sprinted away from him as quickly as I could. Not heading in any direction – my brain was just set on getting away.


	5. Well, That Failed

**Chapter Four: Well, That Failed**

Okay, so my epic plan of running far away from Jacob and his stupid imprint had failed, to put it bluntly. But as I stared at the cheerful interior of Emily's kitchen, I couldn't help but feel like I had won. For all Jacob knew, I _had_ fled the state.

"I still don't get _why_ you said that… I mean, what possessed you?" Emily scolded as she whipped me up some soup.

"Annoyance," I answered for the tenth time. "I was tired of hating Renesmee and watching Jake love her. It just got to me in the end! Besides, it's not as if anyone will miss me."

"Seth will."

"Well, Seth will know as soon as he does home that I'm _not_ on a plane to Texas, and am still in La Push. He'll only be worried for a few hours."

Emily thunked the soup down in front of me along with a spoon, before pulling out a chair and sitting opposite me. She rested her head of her hand and idly picked some nonexistent crumbs off the pristine tablecloth. I had forgiven my cousin years ago – way before I considered forgiving Sam – but that didn't stop me teasing Emily about her OCD habits.

"I think that you should go back to Jake and say sorry."

"I'm not really the saying sorry type," I pointed out. "And what about the demon baby imprint problem?"

"Ignore her? She can't really be _that_ bad." She laughed at the disbelieving look I gave her. "Go on then, tell me something dreadful that Renesmee did," Emily added while smoothing her wrinkle-free jumper.

"She destroyed Jasper's – the emotion controlling bloodsucker's – room. She completely _blitzed_ it. Because he and Emmett stole her seven hundred pound hair straighteners. It was a flipping joke! And she has _five_ spare ones. But nope, little Nessie can't handle anyone touching _her_ stuff, so she stormed into the leeches' room and tore the shelves off the wall, knocked over the cupboards and draws, broke the shower."

Emily's mouth flopped open. I told Sam a lot about Renesmee, but I didn't have enough time to tell him everything. I gulped down the soup in a few quick mouthfuls.

As I licked the remainders off around my mouth, Emily regained the ability to speak. She laughed and then said, "Jasper must have killed her."

"Nope – of course not! He just laughed , said sorry and promised not to do it ever again."

She looked almost disappointed. Emily was the only girl I could share my leech hatred with. I suppose that as she's the 'wolf-girl', she has to share the common enemy with her and her imprint. Otherwise there would be more that a few marital arguments.

"What? He just accepted it?"

"Of course! What do you expect him to do? Shout at darling Renesmee? The pride and joy of all the vampires in the world? No, they all worship that spoilt monster. Including Jacob. It's not natural for a wolf to be so leech-loving."

Emily smiled and changed the topic. "Are you all set for the wedding?"

I grinned. "Of course I am! How could I not be ready for my favourite cousins wedding?"

"Great," Emily smiled – and I could see the nerves behind the grin. "Just do what you did at the rehearsal. You were the only one who didn't mess up."

Emily sighed and rested her hands on the table. Her bottom lip was pushed up onto a pout and her forehead was furrowed as she considered the mess of her wedding practice.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," I lied. So, Sam had been a bit late and Emily had tripped over the train of her gown while she walked down the aisle – pretending to hold onto her Dad's arm because he hadn't managed to make it in time. "It will be better on the actual day – people will know how to avoid the mistakes they made."

"But what if my dress isn't fixed? The shop said that sewing the tear back up well might take weeks. And Claire stained her frock with baked beans. It would take ages to get those marks out."

I lifted an eyebrow. "It'll be fine." I wasn't one for lying – I preferred to tell the blunt truth – however when I did lie, I was pretty good. Well, good enough to convince Emily.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

I smiled reassuringly. "Yep. It will be great. And you will look absolutely beautiful walking down the aisle, that if someone _does_ slip up, no one will notice because they will all be staring at you amazingly gorgeous face.

Crap. Wrong words. Immediately, Emily's hand shot up to gently probe the ridges on her face. She shifted her hair in front of them, so only the unmarred side of her face was showing, without looking at me. Although she stared down at the table, I could her desperately blinking away tears.

"Emily, I wish you could see yourself how the rest of us see you," I said softly as I walked round to her, crouching at her side. "You shouldn't worry about your scars, nobody else does. We all know that you're beautiful – don't cover yourself up like that."

Gently, I pushed her head up with two fingers so she could look in my eyes. I kept my stare firmly on her watering eyes as I brushed away the black strands of hair.

"Let the world see, Emmy. Especially on your wedding. Because you shouldn't be ashamed of yourself, not when you're so beautiful."

Unexpectedly, she leaned in to hug me. Pushing her hair back behind her ears with a free hand.

"I really don't tell you that I love you enough, Lee. You are the bestest cousin-sister I could have asked for. I really appreciate the fact that I have you."

I grinned and hugged her back hard. "Love you too, Emmy."

The door banged open, and a bass voice accompanied the slam. "Emily! Leah's gone missing!"

Emily rolled her eyes at me, and then shouted back to Sam, "No – she's sitting in our kitchen."

Heavy footsteps hit the wooden floorboards and then a dripping Sam entered. His hair was plastered to his skin because of the heavy rain outside. As soon as he saw me – his urgency disappeared and his run slowed to a walk.

"Jake's really cross with you," he said as I slid back into my chair on the other side of Emily. "But he's really worried – he thinks that you've skipped the state."

"He can worry about me the," I said. "It was his fault."

"Did your telling off not got that well, then?" Sam asked as he dished up some leftover soup into a clean bowl.

I snorted. "It could only have gone worse if we both phased and ripped each other's faces off. And we were pretty close to that."

Sam pretended to drop his bowl in fake surprise. "Did I really hear that right? Leah Clearwater kept her temper? Call the newspapers! Call CNN! This is definitely a headline story."

To shut him up, I chucked my spoon at him – but he caught it. He chuckled and then changed the subject.

"Are you all set for the wedding?"

"Are you going to turn up on time?"

Sam moved to loop his arms around Emily's shoulders before answering. Probably to reassure her that nothing was going to go wrong.

"Of course I am. Absolutely nothing bad is going to happen. It's going to the be the most perfect day of my life."

I managed a few more sentences before I had to leave. I made and excuse about going home so that Seth wouldn't worry for too long, and then left. As soon as I closed the front door – the tears that had been building up spilled out.

I don't think anyone apart from Mom knew that I still loved him. It had faded a little, and I could stand to see him and Emily without wanting to tear my eyes out, but it still hurt when I saw how happy he was with her. I thought that he would never want anything more than me – I never wanted anything more than him, and then he just shattered my life. Everything that was perfect had been destroyed and everything that had been bad and just got worse. I may have forgiven him, but that doesn't stop me loving him.

The rain mingled with my tears and washed them away as quickly as they came. By the time I reached my house, my long hair came unbound from my ponytail and stuck to side of my face. My so called 'waterproof' mascara was running in long streams down my cheeks.

Seth was happy to see me, though. He was busy talking on the phone to someone at a rate of knots, but when he saw me, he dropped the phone and engulfed me in a hug.

"Leah!" he cried happily and hugged me harder. "Jacob told us that you'd run away."

"I lied. You're strangling me Seth." I patted him awkwardly on the head, hoping he would stop hugging me soon. He knew that I hated hugs.

He stepped back, but still clung onto my hand as if he was four. "Where'd you go? You weren't _anywhere_."

"I was hanging out with Emily, I needed to talk to her about the wedding."

Seth nodded and then jumped onto the next thing. "I better tell Jake I found you. He's feeling so guilty about telling you to go away."

I let go of his hand as if it was on fire. "No! Don't tell him. I don't want him to come and apologise to me – I don't want to _see_ him."

"But he really does feel sorry Leah!"

"I don't care what he feels now. He told me what he really thought when we were arguing, and I don't want to see him again."

Seth gave me his puppy dog eyes, but I refused to let them work. I wouldn't – couldn't – forgive Jacob just yet. Not after a few hours.

"No, Seth! I have other stuff to concentrate on. Like the wedding. It's in two days and Emily still needs help. Just… Forget Jacob, 'kay? We'll talk at the wedding, but just let us be apart until then."

"When I phase he'll know that you're still here," he pointed out.

That small fact didn't really bother me. As long as he didn't come to apologise, then I didn't care whether he knew. I had managed to worry him enough to tell people that he was worried and he had tried to get people to search for me – that was enough.

"That's fine. Just don't phase specifically to tell him."

"Sure thing, Leah," Seth promised. We stood in silence for a second before Seth jumped on my again, burying his head on my shoulder and sighing deeply. "I missed you Leah. Even though you weren't even gone a day."

* * *

**THINGS start happening in the next chapter. :D  
A HUGE thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers (and favouriters/alerters) I love each and every one of you very very very much. You're the reason I write.  
~Charlotte-LOVE-**


	6. The Wedding

**Thanks muchly to Some Things Don't Have To End (Ellie) for editing this chapter when I was too lazy to do it.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Five: The Wedding**

Emily straightened her gown, smoothing the silky fabric. It was a gorgeous dress, pulling in at the waist and then cascading down to her feet. Claire was standing behind her, playing with the train. I was sitting on the floor next to Claire, waiting for the music to start. The heels I was wearing – to make myself as tall as Emily – were already giving me blisters. Claire was having the time of her life in high heels and a princess dress, she had already asked a million times if she could wear the frock forever.

The music – played from an ancient speaker system – started and I scrambled to my feet, grabbing Claire's hand. Emily picked up her bouquet of flowers and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Supported by her Dad, Emily began the slow march up to Sam. I kept a tight grip on Claire's hand, to keep her from falling over and to give myself a boost of courage.

Sam looked perfect. If I ignored Emily, it was almost easy to pretend that the happy grin he wore on his face was for me. This was, after all, how I had always planned our wedding.

Our friends and family from La Push – and Emily's family from the Makah reserve, turned to watch us make our slow procession down the isle. I smiled at Seth, Mom and Charlie. Seth waved before turning his attention back to Sam at the front. Standing by his side was his best man – Paul. I was amazed to see him in a suit, Paul only ever wore jeans, he looked like a monkey man in a tuxedo.

When Emily reached the front, she handed me her large bouquet before taking her husband-to-be's hands. Still holding Claire's hand, I directed us to Emily's left side and stood quietly as the ceremony started.

I had never been one for listening to boring men drone on and on about faith and such, so I didn't pay much attention to what was being said, and instead watched the audience. Some people – like Emily's Mom and Kim – were crying at how perfect everything was. Others, like Embry and Jared, were watching with slightly amused expressions on their faces. Most people I knew - as they were from La Push - and some had come to visit from the Makah reserve before. I didn't know a few of them, but I just assumed they were some distant relatives of Emily's. All were staring at the happy couple. All except two.

Quil was staring at Claire like she was the most fascinating thing on the planet. She smiled a huge grin when she saw him staring and waved frantically.

Jacob, on the other hand, wasn't gazing at me with love struck eyes. He was looking as I had severely pissed him off by turning up at my cousins wedding. Although, thinking about it, it was better that way than Jacob loving me. That would be wrong. And creepy. And degrading – I would be on the same level as Renesmee. Gross. He glared back at me when I met his eyes and then turn to watch Sam and Emily affirming their vows.

As soon as they had stopped making out, I went to hug Emily hard. Tears were streaming down her face, which was weird because Emily hated crying, almost as much as me.

"Don't cry," I told her, brushing away the tears. "As we've discussed – you look disgusting when you cry."

She gurgled out a laugh and hugged me again. "I do. I really need to stop."

Sam reappeared at her shoulder, and smiled at me and gave me a hug. In my ear, he whispered "thanks," before stepping away from me and wrapping one arm around Emily's waist.

I grinned at the couple and murmured, "Congrats."

Then I was engulfed by a crowd of people all calling out their congratulations and celebrations. I skipped out of the way of Billy's wheelchair and then headed through the empty rows of chairs to the buffet at the back.

I may be 'the girl' but I still like to eat as much as the other wolves. And the wedding planners and caterers had obviously taken Sam's suggestion of providing lots of food to heart, because the table seemed to stretch for half a mile. _And_ I could see noodles. Yum.

I paused, my hand about to grab a bowl, and contemplated whether it would be rude to have some food before all the traditional stuff. But, then again, all the people whose opinions mattered to me wouldn't care – and the judgemental people I couldn't care less about. So I continued dishing spoonfuls of noodles into my bowl.

Pointedly, I ignored the presence I could feel behind me. When I turned, I found Jacob standing behind me, a sort-of-amused expression on his face.

"Noodles _again_?"

Already, I had spooned some noodles into my mouth. Noodles, at inconvenient, awkward times could be rather annoying, especially when some of the ends were hanging out of my mouth. I sucked them in and replied with the food half chewed.

"It's not my fault that Emily ordered noodles for me – it would be rude not to eat them."

"You have a noodle obsession, has anyone ever told you that?"

I nodded and shoved another load into my mouth. Emily and Sam must have ordered from out of town – because this stuff was _heaven_. No one in Forks or La Push made noodles this good. Apart from Dad - but unless he's still cooking for beyond the grave, it's entirely impossible. Jacob watched me eat, something he knew I hated.

"What?" I asked. "Do you have something else to say?"

He sighed and leant against the table. "Yeah. Just sorry. I said some mean things in our argument that I shouldn't have. It's your choice whether you like Renesmee or not – and I shouldn't have reacted so protectively do it."

I shrugged. "Okay."

"Okay?" he repeated nervously.

"Okay, I forgive you. Oooh! Prawn crackers!"

"Are you going to say something else?"

"I _love_ Chinese food! I'm going to marry a Chinese bloke who will cook for me all the time. This stuff is _heaven_."

Jacob laughed and the table rocked under his weight. He quickly jumped away from it, his hands shooting out to steady it. We both watched in nervous silence as it almost capsized and then sighed in relief as it righted itself – just a few causalities and spillages of a few bowls.

I shook my head. "You need to remember how heavy you are. One day you're going to kill something."

"I'm not _that_ heavy," he protested.

"Jake, you're a beast. Seriously, if all your muscle was fat, you'd be obese."

Laughing, he tensed his arm to show of his impressive biceps. "Yes, but I'm not obese – I'm just like a bodybuilder."

"No, you're perfect, Jacob. Don't lose any of your muscle; otherwise you would lose your only good point."

"What about my face?"

"Oh, definitely get rid of that."

Giggling, I ducked out of range of his arm. But his uncoordinated swing caught my bowl and knocked it out of hand – sending noodles flying. We watched – me, with a horrified expression and him with a terrified expression – as the bowl emptied all around the buffet table.

"My noodles! Jacob what have you done?" I thundered.

He backed away from my slowly, towards the door of the church. Glaring, I stalked after him. The guests let us go without a fuss, they were too busy keeping themselves entertained with the happily married couple to notice what was going on with Jake and I.

As soon as we were outside, Jake broke into a run, stripping off his shirt as he prepared to phase. I sprinted after him, conscious of my expensive dress and carefully styled hair. The skirt fluttered out around my legs as I followed him into the wood.

_Damn him_, I thought as I tried to see him through the densely packed trees. _Damn him and his ability to turn into wolf without caring about his clothes._

Leaves crunched behind me and I spun to see a large brown wolf advancing on me. I put my hands on my hips and glared up into his enormous brown eyes. I could feel the stupid bottom layers of the dress catching on thorns. Jacob took a few cautious steps forward, checking how I would react. When I didn't move, he barked playfully and leapt closer to me. Automatically, I stepped back to avoid being trampled on by a wolf, but ended up ripping the skirt completely up one side. I stared the tear in horror.

"You realise Emily is going to make me pay for this? Damn it, I'm _broke_ Jake, I can't pay for that!"

He had the decency to look ashamed and then leapt at me again, this time making contact and pushing me to the floor.

"JAKE!" I screamed as my head narrowly avoided a tree.

Once again, he laughed and the moved over me – lowering his head dangerously close to my face. I could see an evil plan formulating in his eyes before he even opened his mouth. But his wolf speed was too quick for me and he licked all the way up my face before I could move. It spurned me into action. Quicker than he could lick me again, I brought my hands up to cover my face and tried to wriggle away, but Jacob had chosen his spot perfectly and I only ended up knocking my head on the tree trunk.

"What _are_ you two doing out here?" Paul asked as he ducked through the trees. When he took in my state – Jacob licking my face with my legs hanging out of my skirt, he raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Never mind! Sam was just curious why you had made a mess of the table."

Taking advantage of the distraction, I rolled to my feet and straightened out my clothes. They were stained with mud and I could feel twigs in my hair. Jacob was definitely going to pay half of the bill.

"It was Jacob's fault," I answered. "He knocked the bowl out of my hands and then ran away."

"So you weren't sneaking off to make out?"

Jacob head butted Paul as I gave him the finger.

"No, he was just getting his revenge. And I _do_ have standards, you know. And Jacob doesn't even begin to qualify."

Paul laughed and hit Jacob's side in a friendly way. "Dude, you just got _rejected_."


	7. A Little Bit Tipsy

**Number ONE: Okay, the reason this one took so long is because I have been battling a very serious case of writer's block for the past week. And I had a different story to finish (with writer's block), so it was never going to take a short while. But Spirit Bound is now DONE! Which means this is the only story I am writing and I will not start another one until this one is done and dusted. However, unless I find myself suddenly stuck down with inspiration, I'm afraid chapter 7 might be a while in coming.**

**Number TWO: The language is going to start to get worse in this book. This is because I always thought of Leah as the type of girl who would express herself with cursing, but I was always restrained about this because I posted on a different site that didn't accept any cuss word worse than 'crap'. However, my story was deleted off that site (along with many others) and I suddenly find myself able to write whatever I want! (What a wonderful feeling). Basically, there are going to be a few more swears.**

**Anyway, I've talked for too long. Enjoy**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-**

**

* * *

**

Chapter Six: A Little Bit Tipsy

Mom and I sat next to each other as we watched Sam and Emily dance happily in each other's arms. To my surprise, Emily hadn't cared about my ragged state, it was my Mom who had thrown a fit and made me promise to pay Emily back for the damage.

"I don't really like weddings," she said as she gulped the last of her champagne.

"Why do you go to so many, then? You even went to the leeches wedding."

"That was for Seth. I didn't want him to go alone - and you know Billy, he would have been dreadful at keeping an eye on him. Especially as Jacob had returned."

We watched as Sam leant down to extract a long kiss out of Emily and then immediately start twirling her again. For a man of his size and weight, Sam was a remarkably good dancer and Emily was the most perfect girl in the universe, so she could dance like an angel. It was quite depressing. I lurched forward to grab my fifth glass of wine.

My face must have given away more than I had wanted, as my Mom picked up on my emotions pretty quickly.

"I don't know why you're putting yourself through this Leah - the ceremony's over. You can go home. You shouldn't have to watch this. You know that Emily you understand."

"I don't want to be pitied." It was my usual answer whenever Mom brought up this subject. "I can cope with this. They don't need to know."

"They'd understand."

I gritted my teeth and stood up, putting my wine glass on the table as the fraying fabric tickling my calves. "I don't want them to understand. I can cope," I repeated.

Mom's eyes softened and she reached out to grab my hand. "Leah..."

Before she could say anything else, I pulled my hand anyway from hers and walked quickly to the door – pulling my jacket of the coat stand as I went.

Not much was going on outside. A few people who had young children, were getting into their cars and driving home but everyone else was still enjoying the party going on inside.

I headed for home, ignoring the yellow headlights that occasionally washed over me as I walked down the side of the road. It was hard to find the sleeves of my jacket in the dead of night, but once I had ascertained where everything was and had zipped up the knee-length coat, I felt a bit more secure. Walking around in a white petticoat in the middle of a forest did not feel natural. The tear in the skirt brushed against my calf, and my leg slid out of my dress as I stepped forward. Smiling to myself, I couldn't help but remember Jacob's momentary distraction.

As much as I hated to admit it, I liked Jacob. Maybe I didn't always give him enough credit, I owed Jake a lot more than I would ever tell him. Even though he is mainly a distraction from Sam – something that he does know – he doesn't really understand how grateful I am for that. When I joined his Pack, things started to go right in my life. For once. There have been a few ups and downs, but overall I've been happy. And most of my happy memories are from Jake. It's just a pity that he doesn't realise.

But then there was Nessie. Arriving out of the mist like a toad. If all my good memories were of Jake, all of the bad ones came from Renesmee. Partially, I hated her because I was jealous. Because Renesmee was… Perfect. Yeah, she was a spoiled bitch and I wanted to cut her head of with a blunt axe, but physically, Renesmee was heaven. Shining hair, a face that looked like it had be sculpted by angels, legs that stretched to sky and a waist that you hold in one hand, that was all anyone saw of Nessie. Especially Jake. And although he tried to disguise it, whenever Nessie was around, he wasn't staring at her face. His gaze generally rested a little lower.

Yeah, a lot of my hatred was based on jealousy. Because Renesmee, who hadn't ever experienced pain, suffering or any bad emotion, got all the attention from the guys, she stole everyone's minds and didn't let them have them back. She was fake, plastic and worshipped. Damn, she was going to be top of the food chain in high school.

The thing was, that as much as Nessie made me want to punch something, I would never leave Jake's pack. Because if I left them, then I would lose Jacob. And with all the laughs we'd had, I could never let him go.

Now there was no _way_ I could phase now – if anyone ever heard any of those thoughts, I would never be able to live down. And if Jake heard them, he might get completely the wrong idea. With his ego, he'd probably start thinking I was in love with him. Not much chance of _that_ happening.

Although Jacob wouldn't make a bad boyfriend. He was sweet, funny, caring and he would always be faithful. Anyone would by lucky to have him – Renesmee too, even though she didn't deserve him. If Renesmee wasn't so selfish, I would ask if we could share him. Okay, no I wouldn't, but I would love to ask her just to see her reaction. It would most likely end up in a fight, but it would be hilarious.

What was I thinking? It was probably due to the three glasses of wine I had had, I wasn't thinking straight. Actually, I had had five quite generous helpings of wine, and I had a well-known reputation of being a light-weight when it came to any sort of alcohol.

As the drink drew my usual mental barriers down, thoughts that I usually hid away came into focus. Most of them were about how I annoyed I was at Sam and Emily, but others were held a different face. Jacob Black. It was pissing me off that most of life revolved around him now. I always forbade myself to think of Sam, but Jacob was middle ground. I could think about him and not hurt. I could fantasize about _us_ and it wouldn't hurt. We probably would make a good couple, if it wasn't for the fact I would second place to _Renesmee_. And that we couldn't go half an hour without arguing.

I took a misjudged step forward, and discovered that it was not road in front of me anymore, it was a muddy stream. And I was now _in_ the muddy stream. Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. Did streams have eels in them? Gross… I cannot _stand_ eels. Or anything else slimy and slippery. I jumped out of the stream and cursed the new state of my dress – torn, muddy, wet and covered with pond weed. Today just wasn't my lucky day, was it? I needed to get home, change and then go to bed.

Hopefully God would take mercy on me tomorrow and spare me the hangover.


	8. Confrontation

**Haha, so, about the 'quick update time' promise, I kinda failed. It's mainly because my fabulous Beta/friend Something Don't Have to End, sent it to me in a .docx style. I DO that the resources to change it - but it required another computer and I couldn't find the other computer, so I forgot about it. Sorry for all of you who were desperate for an update. :(  
~Charlotte-LOVE-**

**

* * *

**

**Seven: Confrontation**

Even the slightest movement made my head ring. I had to get out of this house before Seth woke up, because he had a habit of greeting everyone by yelling and then hugging them so hard they thought they were going to burst. And he wouldn't care whether they had were suffering from the worlds worst hangover or not.

Werewolves cannot get a break bones easily. We rarely get ill, can run faster than an Olympic sprinter, can read each others minds, and can eat almost anything. But after only five glasses of wine, we're apparently able to get a serious hangover. Woop-de-do.

Being outside was turning out to be no than inside. It was raining, and the constant pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the top of my umbrella was driving me mad. On the plus side, however, the rain would mean that no one was on the beach. I had always found the salty air by the sea an excellent cure for my hangovers. Unfortunately, getting there would take some time, as the only way of walking that didn't hurt my pounding headache were tiny baby steps. This meant that the journey to the beach lengthened from five minutes to about fifteen. Fifteen more minutes of this hellish hangover than I wanted.

But when I arrived at First Beach, I was surprised to see a figure pacing up and down by the tideline. It was impossible not to recognise the hair that must be straightened, or the designer clothes and sunglasses – even though it was raining. Darling little Renesmee had decided to honour La Push with her presence. She turned as I emerged through the trees, and immediately started walking over to me – even though my expression must have been a cross of horror and disgust.

"Hi Renesmee," I said as she stopped before me. My own voice hurt my head, and I winced, not caring if she thought it was about her presence or not. This conversation needed to end quickly, otherwise my brain would explode. I needed quiet. "Where's Jake?"

Immediately, her face became more suspicious and her eyes narrowed.

_Did I say the wrong thing?_

"Why?" Renesmee hissed.

I put my hands up and took a step back. "I just assumed that if you were here, then Jake would be too. None of the other leeches are allowed in La Push, and you don't seem the type to come on your own." _You always need someone fawning over you_, I added silently.

"He got caught up with Alpha duties. But he's going to get rid of them as soon as possible so he can be with me."

Dear god, I hated her.

"Oh. Well, have fun waiting," I said, eager to shake her off. I tried to walk away down the beach, but she just followed me like a really unsubtle, glaringly obvious, horribly unwanted stalker.

She appeared in front of me, stopping me in my tracks – and jolting my head, causing lightening bolts to shoot around my body – I cursed at her mentally. I was surprised that none fell from my lips, too.

"We need to talk about a few things, Leah."

I snorted. "No we don't. I have other things to be doing." _Like getting rid of my hangover._

But darling Renesmee was not going to give up that easily. With a few quick sidesteps she was blocking my path again. I was too weak - too human - to push her out of my way, and I knew from previous experience that phasing with a hangover made it ten times worse.

"Yes, we do," she snarled.

Maybe if I humoured her, she would go away. "Okay, what about?"

"You. Your problems. I don't know what you've got in your head, but let me spell this out nice and clear so that there are no misunderstandings. Jake. Is. Mine. I couldn't care less about whether you hate me, because I despise you, but I do care that you're turning my Jacob against me."

Damn, this chick was crazy. Did she really, honestly think that? Internally, I shook my head at her retardedness.

"Listen, Renesmee, and listen close. Right now, I don't want to talk to you. In fact, I never want to talk to you because I don't like you, and I don't ever want to talk to you again, but I'm going to put up with you just to tell you this one thing: I'm not after Jake. He's my Alpha and my friend. That's it. I don't want him in any way apart from those two things. I'm not going to stop talking to him because of you. Personally, I believe that he's messed up in the head if _you _are his perfect match. You may be the apple of everyone's eyes, but to me, you're rotten at the very core."

"I'm the best match he could have. What, do you think you'd be better for him?"

She was really getting on my nerves now, despite how much fun Iwas havingtelling her all those things. Maybe I could antagonise her for a few more minutes, and then go and sit down.

"Frankly, I think that a slug would be better for Jacob than you. You're a spoilt brat who's barely come out of nursery. Jake's experienced pain, loss and fear – the worst you've ever been through was when Esme pointed out it was physically impossible to get a life-sized elephant in your room when you had that obsession with them. So yeah, I probably would be better with Jake."

"You bitch," she spat at me. I was surprised it hadn't turned into a catfight yet. "You're just a stupid dog who looks revolting! How could Jake possibly get any better than me?"

"It was you who wanted to know what I really thought," I pointed out. "If you don't want to hear it, don't ask me. I don't sugar coat things for you just because you're Nessie Cullen."

"Don't call me that!"

"Why? I think it suits you, you are a monster, after all. If you want some advice, stop being so spoilt, tell Mummy and Daddy Cullen to stop giving you everything that you want – then maybe people will start to like you."

"Everyone apart from you likes me."

"No, they don't. I can count only count ten people wh odo – out of the six billion people on earth. Even I can do better than that, and I'm hardly the most loved person on the planet."

"I'll prove to you that I'm better than you!"

"Oh yeah? And how're you going to do that without chipping your nail polish?"

She pulled back her lips in a feral snarl. "You'll see. But it'll be easy to prove I'm tougher than you."

I laughed and held up my hands. "Whatever, little girl, but try not to die while doing that, because then Jacob would be forced to turn to me as your...upgrade."

Thankfully, Renesmee decided that she'd had enough of arguing with me, and stalked back down to the other end of the beach, leaving me on my own and in silence. Sighing peacefully with my newfound tranquillity, I settled down on the rocks where I was, my head too sore for me to even contemplate walking anywhere. It was really punishing me for last night's episode.

I groaned and rest my head on a hand. _Come on, what's there to punish? _I drank some wine, not even enough to get Claire drunk! I should not have a hangover this bad. _Ouch_…I am not having a good day.

"Oh look, it's Leah!"

I tried to ignore the voices – because I did not feel like talking to Jared or Paul today. The dimwit duo were hilarious, but loud. Very, very loud.

"Yo! Leah!" Paul yelled and waved his arms above his head. I wished for the times when I could be left on my own for a minute - that was the life I wanted to live.

"What?" I snapped as they reached me.

Without a word of agreement, they both collapsed into piles next to me, hiding slightly under the trees to prevent themselves getting soaked. Renesmee pointedly ignored us at the other end of the beach, standing under a bright pink frilly umbrella. Jake ran out into the rain to join her, his face breaking into the happiest smile I had seen. I sighed too quietly for Paul and Jared to hear – how come he looked at Renesmee like that? Why was she the only one who could make him so happy? _Spoilt cow._

Paul and Jared wolf whistled at him as he held the pink umbrella over Renesmee's and his head. He waved at the three of us, and then turned straight back to Renesmee – who had lifted her head up to kiss him – causing even more whistles from my 'friends'.

"That guy is totally whipped," Jared said. Paul nodded in agreement.

I raised my eyebrows. "Kim?" I turned to Paul. "Rachel? You two have the same stupid expression on your faces whenever you see those two."

"Yeah, but Rachel is human. Nessie, on the other hand, is half vampire. Werewolves shouldn't really be so in love with something that's half our enemy."

"The way you said that made it sound like Kim isn't human!" Jared protested. "But yeah, Paul's pretty much spot on, Leah. It's unnatural. Where do you think they're even going? Little vampire darling has more money than a Queen, and she chooses La Push as a date? If I had that much money, I would take Kim to the moon and back."

I shrugged. "Maybe she wants to go cliff-diving. Now, please be a little bit quieter, I have a hangover."

Being true to their nature (in other words, jerks) they both laughed loudly and started having a shouting match with each other about what a lightweight I was. Bastards.


	9. Jump

**Well, what happened here was that I posted Chapter Eight: Jump without realising that I hadn't properly edited and there were extra bits I needed to put in. Sorry if you got excited because you saw I had written an update. :)**

**Thanks to LetTheObsessionBegin (well, I think that's your name on here) for editing this chapter. I have no idea what I would do with you and your sister, you are my editing saviours.**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-  
**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Eight: Jump**

Despite Jared's and Paul's attempts to get me in pain – being outside was really helping my headache. After an hour, it had all but disappeared, a small buzz in the back of my head was all that was left.

Jacob and Renesmee had walked away from the beach half an hour ago, leaving me with the others. It wasn't as bad as I always made it out to be – Jared and Paul _were _funny and they made me laugh a lot. Sure, their humour was limited to 'that's what she said' jokes, but they were fun to be around.

I was absentmindedly making towers out of the smoothest rocks I could find. At the top, there was a small gap that I was trying to gently push a stone into without knocking over my tower. Paul and Jared had momentarily forgotten about me as they play wrestled to try and decide who was stronger. I balanced the rock carefully on top and smiled happily at my small stone castle. Then, I watched in dismay as Jared's fist missed Paul's face and slammed into my tower – causing the rocks to smash all over the beach. Immediately, they both separated themselves and jumped back several feet, looking like naughty children caught in the act.

I rolled my eyes at them, not having the energy to get up and show them _both_ how to wrestle.

"You're a retard, Jared, you know that?"

He nodded sadly. "It's been pointed out to me many times." Paul snorted and whacked him on the head before slouching next to me.

"You're being boring today, Leah," he complained. "I was hoping you were going to hit Jared for being a douche."

"He knocked over a rock tower, that's hardly douche-like behaviour. Plus I have no energy this morning. If you want a good beating, come back tomorrow when I've had a good sleep."

The wind whipped in from the sea and hit me full in the face. I shut my eyes to try and protect them from the sting on the wind, and re-tucked my damp hair behind my ears – the huge raindrops were falling in a steady sheet, hitting the sea and hammering our skin.

"What _lovely _weather," Jared said bleakly, staring out at the never-ending cover of clouds. "Can we go? I want to dry off before I see Kim tonight."

"We could just cover under the trees," Paul suggested.

I nodded, and held my hand out – an invitation for someone to help me to my feet. Both the boys just stared at me and then started walking to shade of the forest. I grumbled and rolled to my feet, running after them.

"Ever heard of 'chivalry', guys?"

It was a pointless question. They both had the IQ of wombats.

"Is it something to do with being cold?"

Ants. They have the IQ of ants.

"How did you even _get _that?" I asked incredulously.

Jared shrugged. "Chivalry… Shivering. They sounds similar."

"No, they really don't… Actually, never mind." Arguing with the dimwit duo was a nightmare. They never had a solid opinion, and it usually consisted of 'yeah it does!' 'no it doesn't!'. If you got into a debate, you never got out. Especially with Paul.

"Hey look, it's Jacob and Nessie! Let's wave!" Paul and Jared both started dancing around under the trees, yelling and gesturing at the two small figures on the cliff side. You could just see the Jake-figure turn and wave, before looking back at the smaller Renesmee-shaped silhouette. They appeared to arguing – making huge hand motions at each other. Renesmee turned to storm off, but Jake caught her wrist and swung her back.

"Ooh, it's like a soap opera except less interesting because we can't hear what they're saying." Paul's comparative skills were incredible.

Jared – helpfully – added to his statement. "Yeah, it's like watching a really tense TV scene with the volume on mute. And the reception all bad so you can't really see them either."

Paul nodded. "In other words: boring."

Both of them turned back to whatever silly game they were playing. It seemed to involve throwing stones at trees and then avoiding them when they bounced back. I kept my eyes focused on the drama unfolding on the cliff. It was hard to make out features through the rain, but I could just see Renesmee nodding at Jake.

Together, they walked to the part of the cliff that hung over the sea – the place where the humans jumped from. Werewolves tended to jump from higher up – as there was no worry about us getting hurt. Jake was probably just worried about Renesmee injuring herself jumping from the top. Which she might, we still didn't know too much about the strength of a half-vampire.

I watched Jacob and Renesmee line up next to each other – and then run towards the edge of the cliff. The difference was, however, that Jacob jumped straight off whereas Renesmee stopped and stared directly at me, her brown eyes reaching mine through the dreadful weather. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was standing at the highest point of the cliff, staring down at the stormy waters. Again, she glared a challenge at me before springing off the edge.

Before she even fell half way towards the water, I knew that she had made a mistake. The strong winds blew her back toward the cliff-face, and I watched in horror as she hit the solid rock. Her top snagged on an outcropping piece of rock, slowing her descent slightly. Just, through the rain and wind, I could her moans of pain, but then a particularly strong gust blew them away from me, and sent Renesmee back into the cliff, a sharp piece of stone gouging her arm, causing a small sea of blood to soak her once perfect outfit, staining it red.

But then she was falling again, the air buffeting her surprisingly fragile body into the cliff again and again. I didn't want to watch but I was unable to look away. Frozen with a mix of shock and horror, I stared as she landed heavily on the rocks, her bronze curls lying wetly around her gore-splattered face. The waves surged around where she lay and smashed her against the cliff one more time before dragging her lifeless body under the sea, wiping the rock clear of any blood.

When Jake reappeared out of the grey water, every trace of her had disappeared. With a smile on his face, he looked around for his imprint. The sight of him broke the spell that I was under, and I found myself running.

"Jacob!" I screamed and tore across the beach towards, him phasing in mid-step, not caring who saw.

He spun around in the water to look at me charging towards him – the smile slipped off his face as he realised that something was wrong. He instantly related the danger to Renesmee and dove back under. The ice-cold water splashed at my ankles and clung to my fur as I ran into the waves. Paul and Jared were both standing on the beach, yelling at me, asking what was wrong, they would have phased if it had been any use.

As fast as I could, I pushed myself towards the point where Jake had disappeared. I took a breath and slipped under the water in time to see Jacob clutch Renesmee's limp hand and pulled her back up through the water. I surfaced and swam closer to the pair, carefully biting Renesmee's shirt collar and back paddled, dragging her back towards the shore where Jared and Paul were waiting.

They both waded in and helped us pull out Renesmee, who was not looking good. Her arms were bent at strange angles, and her face was slick with blood that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Her nose was obviously broken from her crashes into the rock. She was drawing audible, shaky breaths and the parts of her skin that were not covered by blood were paler than a vampire's. Her eyes fixed on Jake's and she tried to choke out a few words, but all she succeeded in doing was coughing up a worrying amount of blood.

"Ssh, don't talk," Jacob said, stroking her hair.

I swung round and, uncaring about my nakedness, phased. Jared and Paul were hovering, torn between going and staying.

"Get Carlisle. Now."

They both nodded and sprinted away, phasing mid-step and then disappearing as fast as their legs could carry them. Aware of how exposed I was, I phased back in my wolf form and lay down next to Renesmee, hoping that she would stay alive if she was warm. It didn't look like I was doing her any good, but I kept by her, listening to Jacob's frantic one-sided conversation, until the leeches came – followed closely by Paul and Jared. As soon as Renesmee was surrounding by fussing vampires, I realised that it was my time to go.

Unnoticed, I slipped back to where the two large wolves were waiting. We looked at each other, and then back at the panic that was going on at the shoreline before turning our backs and heading into the forest.

We didn't phase back, we just waited in our wolf forms – waiting for the inevitable sounds of loss to echo from the beach as they accepted Renesmee's fate.


	10. Authors Note :S

**Heya guys!**

**I know that you wanted an update of chapter 10 – but it might be a while in coming. Mainly – my end of year exams are coming up this week, so I have a weekend of revision ahead of me. Because of this, don't expect another chapter until next week at the earliest. I will try to write it and edit it as quickly as possible, but I suck at getting things up on time.**

**Just to let you all know, although Valentine's Day is going to be quite a short story – it will keep going for another 3 or 4 chapters. And I will tell you what is the last chapter, I promise.**

**Anyway, it's one o'clock in the morning and I really need to go to sleep before I feint. And I have to revise for those exams. O.o Gah! I have too much going on in my life.**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-**


	11. Playing the Blame Game

**In celebration of me getting an A* in German (woop!) I'm posting chapter 9 for you. ^.^  
Remember to review - they mean so much to me!**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-  
**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Nine: Playing The Blame Game**

I knew everything when Jacob phased. Raw pain cascaded into my thoughts – tinged with the red of madness and anger. I tried to listen to what he was thinking, but there were no words, only emotions. I whimpered under the strain of all these foreign emotions bearing down on me. Sam imprinting on Emily was _nothing_ compared to what Jake was feeling.

I wanted to say something; but what could I say? He was going through the worst pain imaginable, and 'I'm so sorry' wouldn't do anything. For the first time since my heart had broken, I felt pity for someone else. I realised that the pain I had been put through wasn't that bad - it hurt, yeah, but lots of things hurt. Some things hurt more than others, and what I had been through – compared to what Jake was going through – was as bad as stubbing your toe.

But it was hard to think these words through the thoughts: all the memories. The first time he laid his eyes on her, the adorable angel with her chocolate brown eyes; the fact that she had taken away all of his pain, all of the stress from his previous life. And then there were just images, fluttering past my eyes like objects caught on the wind. Hide and seek in the forest, picnics in a random field, the sun framing her delicate features as she smiled, her kiss whenever they had been apart for too long, the conversations when they said nothing in particular but they said everything they wanted: the memories of her that I had always shied away from because I couldn't stand to hear Jacob being happy without me.

Whimpering, I cowered against the cover of the trees – my long fur tangling with the rough bark. My claws dug into the soft subsoil as I shut my eyes to try and block out the pictures. But they were everywhere, and I couldn't phase to get away from them – I couldn't remember _how_ to phase, I could barely remember my own name.

The emotions changed so suddenly I yelped in shock. Instead of pain and agony, an overwhelming anger overtook us. All the thoughts dissipated and I regained control of my body and mind. But that didn't mean the ordeal was over.

_How could you?_ Jake snarled at me. My ears perked up as I heard his footsteps coming closer to my patch of forest. Jared and Paul – who could hear Jake's footsteps coming closer – sank back into the trees. They knew better that to hang around with and angry Jacob. I wished with all my heart that I could follow them and escape this ordeal. But it didn't matter how far I was away from him – I would always be able to sense him.

_I…I'm sorry, Jake, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have had to go through that_, I said. I wasn't completely sure why he was so angry at me, but apologising seemed like the best (if not pointless) thing to do.

_How could you! I know that you didn't like her – but how could you do this?_

_I didn't!_ I protested weakly. _I didn't do anything._

_Why did she jump, huh? She said she would jump with _me_. She would have been safe with me! She was always safe with me. But you _saw_ her go up higher, you must've. And you didn't stop her, you didn't _think_. You never think! Because as long as it has a good outcome for you, you don't care about anyone else._

_No, Jake, that's not true! I couldn't stop her, she was too far away. You both were too far away._

The large russet wolf that was Jake came twisting into view. His muzzle was pulled back in a ferocious snarl and there was murder in his eyes.

_Jake, please! No, I didn't like Renesmee, but I wouldn't have wanted her dead. I didn't want to do anything to her that would cause you pain! I never wanted her dead._

_But she is!_ He exploded. _She's lying on that beach not breathing! What happened if it wasn't your fault, she was _fine_ until she talked to you._

Guilt nagged at the corners of my mind – worming their way into my thoughts. I tried not to let Jake see our confrontation on the beach, where she vowed to prove she was a better match for Jacob, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Jacob let loose a howl that made the leaves on the trees shake. I tried to back away from him, but only succeeded in walking straight into a tree.

_I'm so sorry! _I cried,_ I'm so sorry. I never realised what she would do, I never wanted her to do that. If I had realised what she was willing to do to prove to me how she was better, I would have never said those words. _

_It's your fault! This is all because of you. Leah…_The wolf in front of me collapsed and tears seeped from the corner of its eyes. _You've ruined my life._

I moved away from the tree and shook my head, trying to see a way in which he was wrong. A way to pin the blame on someone else. But there wasn't. He was right – if I hadn't been so selfish and cruel, he wouldn't be experiencing the pain he felt.

The rain was falling lightly from the canopy, matting Jacob's fur as he lay, heaving on the ground. Slowly and as quietly as I could, I took small steps towards his body.

There was no anger left in him. He didn't have enough strength to be angry anymore. There was nothing left in him apart from a huge, void of nothing. To see him this helpless was worse than his anger and pain. At least he could heal from that. How could you heal when there was nothing inside to get better?

I blinked away tears and brushed my nose against Jake's neck before lying down next to him, trying to shield him from the rain that was starting to fall in huge droplets again.

We lay in silence like that for so long I began to wonder whether he was aware of the surroundings. I couldn't leave our conversation like that – just so empty and painful. But I didn't know what to say that could bring him out of his depression, I couldn't think straight when I was so worried about him.

I needed something to make him listen.

I needed something to give him something to hang on to.

I needed something that would fill the void that I had torn.

I needed something true.

He didn't move as I gently nuzzled his face to clear away the water that was pooling on his fur – from the rain and from his tears.

I needed something true.

_I love you, Jacob._


	12. Regret

**Sorry about the horribly short chapter - the next one wll be longer. Again, I have exams this week and then a school trip all weekend, so I might not update again for a while. Sorry about that. :(**

**Thanks to my friend/beta LetTheObsessionBegin for editing. Again. :D  
**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-**

**

* * *

**

Chapter Ten: Regret

Every time I went to Jake's house – it seemed to be smaller. Even Billy looked unnaturally large, like a child in a doll's house. He greeted me with a brief nod, then wheeled himself into the kitchen as I continued to the bedroom. We didn't say anything to each other, we never did. He knew why I was there, and he accepted it. I knew that he was mourning in his own way, and I respected that.

As always, Jacob was lying on his side, curled into a tight ball. I pulled the blankets up to cover his shoulders and perched myself on the corner of the mattress. Jake's eyes flickered to me as I sat. There wasn't any emotion in his gaze, apart from confusion. The emptiness made him look haunted.

"Leah," he whispered.

I picked up one of his limp hands and gently tried to rub some life into them. "Hey, Jake."

"Why am I hurting?" His voice was like a child's – young and confused. My warm fingers lifted and pressed against his chest before I answered.

"Because you have a broken heart," I told him simply. "And no matter what you do, they always hurt."

"Do they ever go away?"

Before I answered, I thought about his question. I wasn't going to lie to Jacob because, as fragile as he was, he deserved the truth.

The pain that Sam had caused me was never going to go away - I had accepted that fact a long time ago. It didn't matter that I had fallen in love again – every time I saw his face I wept inside. I didn't want to kill myself anymore, but I still hurt.

"No," I shook my head. "But I'll help it to get better."

"Promise?"

"Yeah." I lay down carefully, still holding onto him, and rested my head against his chest. "I promise."


	13. Scurvy

**Finally. ¬¬ I am SO sorry about the wait. I only have two more exams, and then it's there are only a few more weeks until the holidays (aka lots of time to write) so these long waits shouldn't be here for long.**

**Thanks to my amazing friend Ellie for editing this for me while I was revising. I love yooou. :D**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-**

**

* * *

**

Chapter Eleven: Scurvy

"Please, Embry?" I begged. "Just get him outside, this can't be good for him."

Embry crossed his arms and shook his head. To the right, Quil lounged casually against a tree, absentmindedly ripping or bark while he 'considered my proposal' as he put it.

"Jake won't be moved from his bedroom – it's been nine years and I can't remember him even leaving the house."

"Yeah, that's my point! He's just going to waste away if we don't do something."

"He never leaves the house, though," Seth interjected.

I turned my glare on him. "Well you've never had sex – that doesn't mean it's not ever going to happen."

"It's very unlikely that that's going to happen," Embry snorted. Seth grabbed a stick and threw it at Embry's head.

Werewolves, they were impossible to reason with.

"Do none of you care about Jake? He's supposed to be your friend but you don't seem to either be bothered. He's probably going to die from some sunlight-deficiency disease soon, and you want to do is mess around!"

My accusation seemed to strike a nerve and the surrounding men went quiet, shifting guiltily on the spot.

"All we need to do is get him outside – okay? Just make him sit on his porch or something."

They looked at each other and did a mixture of nodding and shrugging before clambering to their feet. There weren't many of us left. Just me, Brady, Quil, Embry and Seth. All the others had given up phasing so that they could be with their imprints, and as Claire neared Quil's age, he was preparing to quit. Jake phased every once and a while – when the pain got too much. But he didn't talk to us, he just lurked and thought about Renesmee. Generally, we left him alone.

We weren't having this meeting far away from Jake's house. In fact, it was possible to see the red wood walls through the gaps in the trees.

"Come on, then," I ordered, motioning for them to follow me through the trees and out into the clearing that surrounded Jake's house.

Billy wasn't home – he never was during the day. Although it amazed me that he could still move anywhere. Resilient as he was, Billy was starting to look like a very old man in a wheelchair.

"Jake?" I called uncertainly as I opened the door to his room. Sometimes he answered, sometimes he ignored my existence and other times he was asleep.

Today seemed to be one of his worse days. He was facing the door, so I could see that his eyes were open, but he wasn't looking at anything. He didn't even glance up at us as we all crowded into the cupboard-like room.

"OK…" I muttered. "Quil and Embry take his arms and we can kind of…" I made wild hand gestures to try and illustrate my point. They seemed to accept my half-formed plan, and the two boys grabbed Jacob's limp arms.

"This isn't going to work…" Embry pointed out and dropped the arm. Quil followed his example and stepped back.

Brady joined them and scratched his head while he thought. "We could roll him over until he's sitting and then drag him up."

I watched, impressed, as they manoeuvred him until Jake was perched on the edge of the mattress and then hauled him unsteadily to his feet. There wasn't any hint of annoyance or even recognition in Jacob's eyes… He just stood there, leaning heavily on Embry.

The rest of us squeezed into the adjacent bathroom to try and let them through the tight corridor and as soon as they passed, I slipped behind them and made sure that Jake's dragging feet didn't catch on anything.

"I swear," Embry panted, "that this is not worth the effort."

"Yeah… I don't care if he gets a disease from no sunlight. He's heavy," Quil complained.

"Like scurvy."

"What?"

"You know… You get scurvy from no sunlight."

Quil raised and eyebrow and shook his head. "No you don't. Pirates got scurvy."

"Yeah. So?"

"So, pirates were out on a boat all day. They didn't have a lack of sunlight."

"Oh." Embry fell silent. "So what's scurvy?"

"Lack of vitamin C," Brady said. Although I hadn't really paid that much attention to him when he joined the pack, Brady had become one of my closest friends. As soon as Collin and Sam stopped phasing, he came to join our pack and he was actually really nice company. Sure, he was annoyingly clever and got straight As in every subject that you could dream of and he had moments when you wanted to punch him in the face, but he was nice.

"Oh look," Quil said as they dumped Jacob into one of the rickety benches on his porch, "it's cloudy. Remind me what the point of this was, Leah?"

"Just shut up and get him some food," I snapped. The one thing that Jacob still did was eating. He didn't eat as much as he used, but you could still hand him a bowl of cereal and he would put it in his mouth.

Seth slunk back into the house to get some snacks out of the always full fridge. I sat down on the bench next to Jacob, and then thought better of it and sat on the floor. The wood seemed to be rotten in so many places that it was a miracle Jake was falling onto the floor.

Seth came back and chucked a bag of crisps at everyone, and then held the last one out of Jake, who snatched it and tore it open. The rest of us ate in complete silence.

Quil and Embry were the first to go. Quil said he wanted to see Claire and Embry didn't give me an excuse, he was just bored. Then Brady – who had never been that friendly with Jake – and then last Seth. I wriggled into a more comfortable position and finished my bag of crisps, crinkling the packet and chucking it towards the bin. I watched it fall to the floor and made a memo to pick it up later.

"You know, I'm starting to worry about my Mom. Yesterday, I went round to see her and Charlie – and they were both discussing what they would do if Seth was gay. I mean, sure, I guess he hasn't had sex, but still, he's been on dates with girls! When I asked her why they were talking about that, she said that it was 'a random thought that popped into her mind'. She's a mom and she has those types of thoughts? It's dreadful. Oh, and did I tell you last time that Jared and Kim are engaged? No, wait… I did tell you that last time. Never mind." I racked my brains for something else interesting that had happened this week. "Um… You missed Claire's fourteenth birthday party. Well, to be honest, all of us apart from Quil did/ He was the only one invited to her girly sleepover. No idea why he went, apparently he just sat in the kitchen and paid for food whenever the girls decided they were hungry. He's now a hundred follar down because they wanted so much pizza. Collin's almost finished university now – and he's had interested from, like, loads of hospitals who need another physiotherapist. And he's still complaining about everything. It's obvious he's loving the attention, thought, but he keep calling Seth to do his boast-complain thing. I think Seth's starting to get annoyed at him. It's really funny actually."

The trouble with one-sided conversations, is that they always run out really fast.

"That's it really. I've told you everything else." I moodily watched as the first few drops of rain fell from the gloomy clouds. "I suppose I should get you back inside. Then I'll have to go."

I tried to put his arm over my shoulder and help him to his feet, but it seemed to be cemented at his side.

Sighing, I stepped away and crossed my arms.

"Jake, don't be difficult. I can't leave you out here all night, can I?" I tried again with no success. "Jacob Black, why are you being so annoying? Fine! I'll leave you here all night and come and get you tomorrow."

I was about to turn and put the crisp packet in the bin before going, when a large hand latched onto my forearm. Shocked, I gazed at Jacob, who was staring at me – his mouth set in a firm line and his eyes more alert than I had seen in long time.

"Stay," he pleaded – the words barely a whisper.

I blinked. When was the last time Jacob had said a word to me? More than nine years ago, for sure, it was probably the day Renesmee died. He had been silent since then. Even when he phased, there were no sounds, just raw emotions and plain memories. I had almost forgotten what Jake's voice sounded like.

The noise that came out of his mouth seemed to surprise Jacob as well and he frowned.

"Please." The word came out more slowly that the last. "Stay a little longer."

"Sure," I said automatically and sat heavily on the bench without thinking about the consequences. Sure enough, the wood snapped under our combined weight and I felt splinters punctures my legs as we fell to the ground.

I grimaced and brushes the shattered wood off my body.

"Hmm… Sorry about your furniture. You needed a new bench anyway."

Jacob blinked and then the tiniest hint of a smile I had ever seen formed on his face. He shifted his legs up to his chest and kicked the larger pieces away from us. The grin grew slightly as the wood crashed against the porch fence.

"I was always telling Dad that this bench was old. Now I have an excuse to go shopping."

"Oooh! Bench shopping! What a rebel, Jake."

"I might even pick up a garden gnome while I'm away."

I was not going to let him stop talking. He was actually making jokes – not just talking, making jokes! Zombie boy-Jacob was laughing.

"You are most definitely an old lady at heart, Jake."

"So are you," he pointed out. "I can see some grey hairs in there." He prodded my head and I slapped his wrist in return.

"Yeah, right, very funny. But if I'm and old person, I think that we should go bench shopping together. Safety in number, you know. And forget one garden gnome – I think we should start a gnome collection."

"We could knit together every Tuesday!"

"And have races on our granny-scooters down the main roads."

"Yes!" A proper, full-sized smile spread across Jacob's face and I grinned in response. "We are going to be amazing grannies."

"We so are."

The rain started to fall harder as the wind blew it under the shelter of the roof and straight at us.

"Can we go inside?" I asked. "I don't particularly fancy a shower right now."

He stood up and pulled me to my feet, shielding me against the rain with his broad body as we hurried to the still-open front door.

"Oh crap, the crisp packet!" I didn't want to litter, but then again, I didn't want to get soaking we while I was wearing a slightly see-through top. Werewolves were open about nudity, but only while phasing.

The hail made up my mind. "You know what? I'll get it later, it's not important. Is there anything on TV?"

"Don't know. Probably not – it's one o'clock in the afternoon."

"Oh dear." I still picked up the remote and flicked through the five channels hopefully. Billy's cable TV had broken years ago, and he never found the time to get someone round to fix it.

Jake was telling the truth: nothing was on TV at one on a Thursday afternoon. Apart from a programme involving a singing cat, the news, or a rerun of the Simpsons that was made about twenty years ago. Seeing at the cat couldn't sing, I settled on the Simpsons.

"Ugh… Can't we just watch the news?" Jake asked. "I've seen this episode about a hundred times. Besides, I have no idea what is going on in the world at the moment."

"Nope, it's the Simpsons or nothing. Unless you want to learn about the chances of the next Ice Age killing us, or the possible meteor that will hit the Earth and caused us to move closer to the sun and therefore burn to death. Personally, I find the current end-of-the-world news broadcasts depressing."

"You know what? Simpsons sounds really good."

"I thought so too." I grinned and threw the remote into the dark crevices of the sofa. "I love Homer."


	14. California

**Woo! Long chapter again. :D  
Just to warn you: THIS CHAPTER WAS EDITED BY ME AS MY EDITORS ARE BOTH ON HOLIDAY. ¬¬ That is the reason why there are (probably) hundred of mistakes in the this chapter. My excuse is that it's midnight and I'm tired, but I want to get this chapter up for you all.  
Aaand: there will only be one more chapter. It's a short story, and I can't keep up writing it anymore. I need to take a little break from writing soon, as I've always had a story that I was meant to be writing since a year ago and that's taking a toll on me (I'm running out of ideas D:)**

**Next chapter (aka LAST chapter) will be up in the next few weeks - hopefully.**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-**

**

* * *

**

Chapter Twelve: California

Ever since that day Jake had been on the mend. Of course, he lapsed once or twice and went back to his silent, uncommunicative ways, but Billy or I always managed to get him talking and laughing again.

It had been nine years and one month since the accident. The Cullens had moved away, but they came in secret sometimes to check up on Jake. Generally it's after their visits that Jacob goes quiet. Anything that reminds him about Renesmee does that to him. Her name is a taboo – and First Beach is a forbidden place.

But in between these times, Jacob is his old self: cheerful and annoying.

"I want to go on a walk," he announced randomly one morning.

I had taken to having breakfast at his house. In fact, I practically lived at the Black's place now, I spent all of my time there with Jacob. Both him and Billy said that I was a godsend because I had inherited a very small amount of my mother's cooking skill, which meant that they had proper meals prepared for them instead of take-outs. At least, they did when I could be bothered to cook.

"Where?" I asked, bringing my mind back to the table in front of me.

"Somewhere interesting."

Well then, you better leave Washington, because there's nothing remotely interesting here."

"How about California?"

I blinked. "You want to drive to California, just to go on a walk?"

"No, duh." He looked at me as if I was the personification of stupid. "We can run."

"When did I get dragged into this?"

"Oh, I thought you were coming. You don't have to if you don't want to…"

"Nah, I'll come. I have nothing better to do today."

That was a blatant lie and we both knew it. Despite the fact I spent every waking moment with Jacob, I did have a sort-of life. Since I wasn't needed to be a twenty four hour carer for Jake, I had decided to get my life back on track. Starting with an actual college degree. I was majoring in Geography, simply because I liked that subject while I was at school, but I didn't really know what I was going to do with the qualification once I had it. Jake had been hooked on the idea of me becoming an archaeologist – until I pointed out that archaeology had nothing to do with geography and he was talking about a geologist.

"Shouldn't you be studying, Leah?" Jake asked, unsure.

I shrugged. "It's only one weekend. I'll survive. Besides, I'm not getting any older. I'll just re-sit if I fail."

"Cool! Let's get going." Jake leapt to his feet with an unfeasible amount of energy and bounded towards the door, stopping only to motion frantically at me. Even though he was – technically – in his early thirties, he had the enthusiasm of a ten year old.

I surveyed the chaos of uneaten breakfast food and then shrugged and Billy.

"I'll pack some food for him – he's bound to be hungry once he remembered he didn't even finished breakfast."

Billy gave a half smile and rumbled back, "Sure he will. That boy has no common sense. Have fun."

While I dug through the kitchen cupboards in search of a plastic bag to put the food in, Billy rolled himself into the living and switched on the TV. I managed to find one – an old wal-mart bag with several holes – underneath the sink. After throwing out the contents (half a sock; two lengths of string; and what might have been a sandwich), I packed the bag with some snacks and followed Jake out the door.

He was already bounding around the outskirts of the forest as a large red wolf. He woofed softly at me when he heard the door slam behind me, but didn't risk coming out. Billy's house was quiet, but the occasional car passed and it would not be good if they saw a huge wolf in the back yard.

As soon as I reached the trees, he leapt off again – barking impatiently for me to hurry up. I grimaced and raised the carrier bag above my head.

"Fido! Get your ass _back_ over here, I'm not carrying the food to California." He whimpered and dragged himself back to me. His clothes were – as always – tied to his upper leg with a piece of string, and so I put the bag with them, knotting the handles so that the food couldn't fall out the top.

"Now turn around or go away. I'm not stripping with you staring at me – it's slightly off putting."

That was a lie, but Jacob probably didn't want to know.

The topic of my feelings towards him was also a taboo. It wasn't discussed or thought about. I'm sure that some of the wolves talked about it behind our backs, but never to either of our faces. I think Jake was going with the theory that if it wasn't mentioned, it didn't exist. I was just going along with it because there never seemed to be an appropriate moment to bring it up in casual conversation. 'Hey! How're you doing?' 'I'm OK. I mean, it's annoying that you refuse to acknowledge that I'm head over heels in love with you, but, yeah, I'm good!'. No, it was better just to leave it alone and hope for the best.

As soon as he was out of view, I stripped off and phased as quickly as I possibly could.

_Ready?_ Jacob was already facing California – our internal compasses were extremely useful in situations like this.

_Yep. Is the food still attached?_ I asked as I ran to catch up with him.

Jake wiggled his leg slightly and _woofed_ an affirmative. I caught up with him and we started weaving through the forest towards the next state.

There was one big evolutionary flaw with shape shifters. We were rather big. I suppose, if we were normal wolves that roamed around an Arctic tundra, we would be fine. But trying to maneuver a sixteen foot tall body through a very dense wood is not very easy to do. It was okay in some parts of La Push – where the forest thinned and we didn't have to squeeze through gaps that we obviously shouldn't be trying to fit through – but the trees around the houses were a nightmare.

Jake had all the energy of a young puppy as he bounced closer and closer to the interstate with no fears of being discovered.

_You're too energetic for your own good,_ I groaned.

I was still faster than him, but I just lacked the motivation to run today. Or most days. Exercise was fun, but I wasn't in the mood for a sprint.

_Ha ha ha, you're just jealous because I can finally beat you in a race._

_No, Jake, if I tried, I would be in Texas before you had even crossed the border._

Jake snorted and picked up the pace even more. I huffed in annoyance and kicked myself into gear, ignoring the sensible part of me that was saying to stop running and take it slow and relax. The trees began to thin as we launched ourselves over the border and flew past the scenery of California.

I was in the lead by a hairbreadth, but Jake was determined to get it back. We so concentrated on each other that we barely noticed as the trees disappeared completely. Only Jake's yelp of shock made me aware that we were charging right into a lake. I put the brakes on and dug my claws firmly into the topsoil, stumbling forward a few steps, my front paws just getting wet. Jacob was not so lucky. By the time he had stopped, he was up to his thighs in muddy water.

I barked out a laugh at him and backed up, shaking the water off my paws. He waded out and came to stand beside me, the water dripping off his fur. Before his thoughts could give him away he shook himself violently, spraying me with water. I close and my eyes and snapped my mouth shut, waiting for it to finish so that I could kill him.

_Jacob Black, you are going down,_ I growled as I stalked him back towards the lake.

He gave me a wolfy grin and stopped retreating, bowing down into a playful position. I mirrored it and showed my teeth in a smile.

If any human had walked into the clearing as we pounced, they would've assumed that we were trying to rip each other's heads off. Instead, the small grazes that opened on Jacob's skin from my claws healed in an instant, and the bite marks from the quick snap he had delivered to my leg had all but disappeared as we landed.

The second time, he charged quicker than me, and succeeded in knocking me onto my back, paws in the air. I rolled over, however before I could get to my feet, Jake was lying on top of me – pinning my body to the ground. Jacob was about three times my weight and he was the biggest wolf in the pack, my escape attempts were useless.

_I yield,_ I groaned to him, starting to pay attention to the thoughts coming through the bond again.

But instead of the playfulness I expected from him, a wave of lust washed over the both of us. In his mind, I could see how he saw me. Sleek blue-grey fur and bright, intelligent eyes. My lips covered my teeth, and were pulled up at the edges in a weird combination of human and wolf, an endearing smile. He saw me as beautiful.

Slowly, he lowered his muzzle to mine and pressed his wet nose against my cheek in a twisted-kiss. I woofed gently and pushed him away.

_This would be easier if we were human, Jake._

_I don't want to move._

_If you're going to try and kiss me – do it while we're human. It'd be a bit more effective._

His nose nuzzled against my cheek bone again as he said, _If I move, you might decide to run away._

I leaned into his nose and shook my head. _If you remember, I've been waiting for you for nine years, I'm not going to be doing any running any time soon. Not when I've been daydreaming about this for years._

I wasn't planning to give anymore information about my private little fantasies away, but Jacob could still see glimpses. Stupid mind-reading.

_You want us to go out?_ he asked, surprised.

_I guess so… But they were just fantasies, don't pay any attention to them._

_Leah, I don't want to hurt you, I want to make you happy. It's been so lonely for me these last years – I don't want to lose you or chase you away. If you want to go out, then we will. We can do the traditional boyfriend-girlfriend thing if that's what you want._

_What about what you want?_

_I want you. That's good enough for me._

_I need you._

_I,_ a new voice interrupted, _am about to be sick._

_That was the most disgusting thing I ever heard. Leah and _Jacob_? That's a match made in heaven. _Another – sarcastic – voice joined in.

_Quil, Embry. Fuck. Off._ I snarled as Jake growled in agreement.

_No way, this is better that a romantic movie. Me and Claire could watch this together on a date._

_Fine,_ Jake muttered and backed away from me. _We'll phase._

I barked and stood up as well, moving myself into the trees to phase and pull my clothes on in privacy.

Jake was already sitting on the bank, with his toes dipped in the murky water. I joined him and covered his hand with mine instantly.

He held up a holey carrier bag with a finger. "I'm not really in the mood for a picnic anymore."

"I was never hungry in the first place, so it's OK," I said as I inspected the cloud of bugs flying above the surface and the granules of mud floating in the water. "It has to be said, this is one of the most disgusting lakes I've ever seen."

"That's a very good observation," Jake agreed and splashed some water upwards, temporarily disrupting the gathering of flies. It didn't take them long to swarm back, though. "Ah well. It's different to La Push."

"Did you really mean what you said?" A note of uncertainty entered my voice, making it sounds completely different. "You really would go out with me?"

"Of course." He shifted closer to me, our feet bumping against each others in the water, our hands squashed in between our bodies. "If you want, I'll ask you properly and bring flowers."

I laughed. "It's alright. I don't like flowers that much, anyway. They start dying as soon as you buy them. It's quite depressing."

He grinned and leant his head against my shoulder. "I'm glad you said yes, Leah."

"You shouldn't have doubted my answer."

"I love you, Leah Clearwater."

"I've always loved you, Jake. I will always love you."

His mouth (softer than it had been in all of my daydreams) touched mine gently. His body was burning hot, even to my touch, but his lips were cool as they moved steadily with me. My arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him closer to me. Then his large, warm hot grabbed my calves and pulled me swiftly on his lap without breaking our kiss.

He pulled back first and took a deep, steadying breath.

"_That's_ how much I love you."


	15. Valentine's Day: Déjà Vu

Chapter Thirteen: Valentine's Day

"I have a surprise for you," Jake said as he sat on the edge of my bed. Uncomprehending, I blinked twice at him and looked over at my clock.

"Jacob, it's nine o'clock in the morning."

"Yes."

"It's a Sunday."

"Yep! But it's a _special _Sunday."

I groaned and pulled my duvet over my head. It had been a mistake to give Jacob my house keys, it really had.

"Why is it special? If it's an anniversary of some soccer match that happened twenty years ago, I don't care."

Jake ignored my obvious wish of going to back to sleep and dived under my duvet with me. His face ended up two centimetres away from mine so he gave me a quick peck on the lips before kicking the covers completely off the bed.

"Nope, silly girl! It's Valentine's Day! And I have a surprise for you." He leapt out of bed, holding onto my wrists and pulling me with him. "So get dressed and meet me outside."

Before I complain about head rush he had bounded out of the room, slamming the door shut on the way. I cursed his happy, morning person attitude and threw on my phasing clothes. Despite hating being a wolf, it was impossible for me to give it up. Jacob was set on staying Alpha until all of his pack had grown up and left, and I had no interest getting old without him.

"Hi," I said as I joined him outside.

He didn't say anything, he just swept me up in his arms and carried me wedding-style out of my house and into the woods. I wrapped my arms around him neck and levered myself closer to him so that I could say hello in our usual way. His lips were warm and soft, and had a faint taste of mint hovering about them.

As soon as we broke apart I blushed. "Sorry about the morning breath, you were in such a rush to get me out of the house that I wasn't really thinking…"

Jake just smiled at me and extracted another kiss from me, his tongue pressing against my lips.

"I was just thinking about how lovely you tasted this morning." I was almost one hundred percent sure he was lying, but I let it drop. As soon as we were far enough into the woods he put me back down.

"So where are we going today?" I asked.

He grinned. "Guess."

"How should I know? Your plans never make any sense to… Oh. We're going to our lake?" I couldn't stop the happy smile that spread across my face.

"Yep. And I want to be there before sunset, so can we start moving please?"

I was about to nod and run after him, before I realised what I was wearing. Usually I wouldn't care about my just-rolled-backwards-through-a-bush appearance, but today on an über-romantic trip, it did both me somewhat.

"You go ahead, I need to nip back and get a few things." _And brush my teeth._

"But I don't want to leave you behind…"

"Ha! Don't be stupid. You'll have a head start and I'll _still_ beat you."

The upset look slid from his face and replaced by a cocky grin. "It's on. Promise you won't cry when I win hands down."

I hit him hard on the head before turning on my heel and sprinting back to my house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a russet wolf disappearing into the foliage.

It was very hard to find anything in my house. Mom had permanently moved in with Charlie and Seth was just finishing college and looking for a house in Seattle. This meant that my childhood home was all mine now, but it also meant that Mom didn't spend all day vacuuming like she used to. I could keep the fridge stocked and turn the TV on or off, but I still hadn't worked out how to use the dishwasher or the vacuum cleaner. My clothes were easy to find though: they were on the floor.

After five minutes of digging I found what I was looking for. The red silk dress had very few creases and no obvious stains, so I strapped it on my ankle and was away in a flash.

Jake had about two miles head start, but as soon as I phased he slowed down and let me catch up to him.

_I wanted to at least give you a chance,_ he explained when I questioned him.

_Prepare to lose then, pretty boy._

We kept up our playful banter well into California. By now, we had so many private jokes and little things that we could laugh for hours on end about complete gibberish.

_I told you we would manage it_, I said as he ran.

Jacob snorted and pushed into me playfully. _And I never doubted you; you just thought that I did_.

_Liar! Watch this._ Our shoulders still brushed together, so I played him my memory of us standing next to each other. It was summer and the bright sun was warming our bodies as we lay together in the grass. Internally, I blushed as all of my feelings of love and adoration poured through the memory.

_"This is perfect," he murmured. I snuggled up closer to him and he wrapped both of his arms around me._

"_I know. I never want summer to end."_

"_What about Christmas? It's in winter, and we get presents. What's there not to like? And it's Valentines Day in February."_

"_We should come back here. On Valentines Day, I mean."_

_It looked like he was about to agree and then he stopped. "We might be too far away…" He trailed off._

I tried to stop the memory before he could see how much his comment hurt me. Of course, with my luck, he still felt the rawness of rejection.

_I meant the fact that we might move – not that we still wouldn't be together. Why wouldn't we be?_ Jake shook his head at my stupidity.

I tried not thinking about her, honestly. Yet my thoughts gave me away. _Nessie._

Jacob faltered and then stopped. I skidded to a halt beside him, but I couldn't look at him. It had been years since her accident – but our long memories didn't stop us from remembering it.

_Leah, Renesmee's gone. It hurts, but it's true. I'm not going to stop living my life because of that – I'm not going to give up chances to be happy because of her. I did that for ten years, and I'm tired of it. I know that she wouldn't have wanted me to._ He pushed his muzzle into my shoulder blades in a weird wolf-hug and then started jogging again. _You're what gets me up in the morning now, Leah. I'm not going to lose you, or reject you._

_Don't go all romantic on me Jacob, it really doesn't suit you._

My diversion tactic worked and Jake barked out a laugh. We both sped back into a sprint, me careful to stay ahead of him at all times.

_I really thought that you would get over the need to be fast eventually, Leah_. _I was apparently too optimistic._

_Jealous of my amazing speed, mighty Alpha? You're just annoyed that I can get everywhere quicker than you._ Without _running into trees._

Naturally, Jake and I sped up to prove ourselves the stronger wolf. We threw childish names and insults at each other as we shot through the trees, avoiding the fallen trunks and low-hanging branches. The smell of the air began to change subtly as we raced towards our destination. The fragrance of the forest – the plants, the animals – morphed into stagnant water and waterlife. The sounds of the air whooshing through leaves and branches started to sound more like the wind forming waves on a pond. I dug my claws into the subsoil and shot forward, desperate to arrive at the place that only contained happy memories. Jacob sped up next to me, and we arrived at the edge of a large lake.

_I won!_ I crowed, replaying my glorious finish to him.

He pointedly ignored me, and stalked back into the woods to change. I chuckled at his modesty – we had been together for nine months, and he still felt uncomfortable being naked around me. His presence left my head as he phased. I closed my eyes and centred myself, pulling all of the strands of my human self back towards me.

A traceless shimmer later, and I was standing on the waters edge with no clothes on. I bent over to untie the sturdy anklet I was wearing, freeing the clothes I had brought. After shimmying into my underwear, I picked up the dress.

It was a Christmas present from the leeches. I still wasn't friendly with them, but when they gave me the most gorgeous dress I had ever seen – how could I say no? The fabric was slippery in my hands, waves of red slipping through as I twisted it, trying to find the arm and head holes. I hadn't worn it before, because my social life was non-existent, and I hoped that it wouldn't make me look repulsive.

I scrambled into it less-than-gracefully. The silky folds ran in rivers down my sides. It squeezed my waist and then cascaded outwards at my hips, ending at my knees. I walked over to the river bank and tried to look at my reflection.

The ripples from the wind only gave me a distorted image of myself, but it was enough to tell me that I didn't look like an ogre. I smoothed my messed hair around my face, trying to untangle the knots with my fingers.

Another pair of hands joined my own, quickly teasing the knots out, brushing through the strands with warm, gentle fingers. These hands travelled down to my shoulders, then slid down the smooth fabric of the dress to my waist. Soft lips pressed between my shoulder blades and I shivered as feelings shot through me.

The hands tightened on my hips and spun me around, the skirt of the dress flaring out around my calves. I slid my arms around the back of his neck, and Jacob leaned down to press his lips to mine. I opened my mouth, allowing him to assault all of my senses. His face, his smell, his touch, his _taste_…

I unlatched my arms and took a step back as we sat down on the lake's bank together. He kept one arm around me, and the other he used as a support to keep him upright. I leant against his shoulder, my head resting just underneath his chin.

The sun was about to set, but before the darkness of night came, the sky was lit up with brilliant oranges, reds and pinks. The clouds were cool lavenders, running into the light green forest behind us.

"I said we would come back here on Valentines Day."

Jacob smiled and kissed my cheek. "You were right."

* * *

**I decided, because this was the last chapter that I would write this at the end. This is the first story that I have adored writing from the beginning to the end without having little moment where I want to kill myself.  
Yes... it was a mixture of laziness and planning that this ended with the first chapter. Mainly laziness, though. Still, I think it fits.  
Thank you to Ellie and Alice for betaing this story for me because I'm too lazy to do it on my own. So, thank you guys loads, you are the two bestest people is whooole world.  
APART from you marvellous secret readers, reviewers, favouriters and followers. I love you guys even MORE than my editors. And that's alot. O.o**

**Thanks for sticking with this story to the end.**

**~Charlotte-LOVE-**

**P.S. Feel free to read my other fanfics.  
:D**


End file.
